robin1234

Experience shows that attempting to pre-censor threads here is an enterprise doomed to failure.

Mods, maybe we should install a Censorship Office though, a Sacred Congregation of the Forum Index .. they could confer the imprimatur and the nihil obstat on posts...

Oh no!! NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition...

Mallory

Have you ever noticed that atheists can't keep their noses out of threads about religion.

Sally Redux

What a moronic comment.

SarahG

Who said they were atheist? I am agnostic so should I not post comments in this thread?

robin1234

Er.. don't think this thread is about religion. That would be like saying, if a thread was about President Obama, that's a thread about Political Science.

Anyway, I am an atheist and I assert my right to have opinions about religion. I'm certainly happy for religious folk to express opinions about humanism and atheism.

Malashaan

I'd just like to say at this point that:

1. I don't consider myself an atheist.
2. I don't have a problem with Catholics, or any other religion for that matter.
3. I do have a problem with Pope Benedict XVI and his retroactivism.
4. This problem is amplified when he and his advisors make bigoted aggressive comments as they have done in the last 2 days.

Lorna at Vicenza

This thread is about the Pope being in the UK right?

The majority of Italians - being Catholic - don't want him in Rome so let him stay elsewhere for a while. This seems to be a big thing for the Italian Catholics as they did like the last Pope - but not this one.

robin1234

Plus, yes I'm an atheist. I have dear friends who are Catholic Priests, one is actually now a Bishop and a functionary in the Vatican. I have great respect for (some of) the Catholic Church's activities, perhaps less so for others (such as pedophilia, genocide etc.) I've supported Catholic churches and charities. I have read pretty extensively about the history of the church and about Christian theology and apologetics.

I'm not a believer in the division of the world into people of faith on the one hand and atheists on the other.

kimilseung

Given the recent history and even more recent comments, I think those that wish to speak well of the pope and the catholic power structure should take it to TIO.

Malashaan

What's struck me about this visit is the number of Catholics I know who have taken variants of the attitude "I wish he'd bugger off and leave us alone, he doesn't represent us." It's both slightly strange to hear Catholics dismissing the Pope and also heartening to know that there's a healthy streak of individualism and rebellion amongst practising Catholics.

sir_eccles

There seems to be a definite difference in the way this current pope is perceived by the public (Catholic and non-Catholic alike) compared to the previous one.

robin1234

Nothing new there. Paradoxically, the Catholic Church has always encouraged individualism & independent thinking at the same time as suppressing it elsewhere. The Jesuits have always been a bolshy lot. Then there was Liberation Theology.

bivlover

More than the tram apparently.

And also, some light relief (please do not click if you unconditionally love the Pope)
Daily Mash article

willmore

You live in a nunnery?

chrisbeale

Reminds me of the pseudo-republicanism in Australia, some of them are happy with the Queen to be their head of state as they like her, not Charles when he becomes King, because he's not as popular.