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Post by Swimmy on Jan 26, 2008 10:17:27 GMT -5
All this talk about science versus religion reminds me of the movie Contact with Jodie Foster. One of the messages makes an interesting observation about science and equates it to being akin to religion. It's a faith that everything can be explained scientifically and that everything happens logically. My view is that religion explains what we can't explain with science or math.
I believe in God and I have my reasons for doing so. But I don't follow the Catholic creed as strictly as many others do. I stopped going to church when St. John's on Oxford Rd. in New Hartford removed Father Drobin for his liberal views about the church. The replacement was so conservative he believed that only boys should be alter servers.
Anyway, to each his own.
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Post by froggy on Jan 26, 2008 10:38:00 GMT -5
Well, I can base the morality of my life on a few things. One, I don't find myself on the wrong side of the law. Two, I am responsible. I work, I provide for my family, I make sure my taxes and bills are paid on time. Morality means I don't intrude on other people's lives or rights. Some people need religion for their moral compass, I simply don't. I found religion too confining, and more importantly, too full of hypocrates. I grew up Roman Catholic and was told to love other people unconditionally, yet the church does not accept homosexuals. What difference does it make what orientation a person is if there is love in their heart? There were lots of things I was hearing in church and catholic elementary school, yet seeing something different practiced.
I don't take issue with people who want to believe in it, as long as they are not voiding my life and/or being a hypocrate about it. I don't take issue with people's rights to protest but there is a time and place for that also. Someone's funeral is not the time or place for it. Even if the protest was personally about the decedent or the family of the decedent, that is not the place to raise the issue.
I respect your views also.
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Post by Clipper on Jan 26, 2008 11:56:02 GMT -5
One of the things that drove me from the catholic church, was the negativity and leading by fear and intimidation. When I was young, the nuns taught us that if we did "this" we would go to hell, If we did "that" we would go to hell. I we didn't do one thing or another, we would be stuck in purgatory, and if we didn't do something else, we wouldn't go to heaven.
What happened to positive reinforcement? Why not tell a kid if he does something good, he will be rewarded in heaven, or if he doesn't do something bad, he will NOT have to spend time in purgatory, or go to hell.
I laughed when I read about the conservative priest in NH, not wanting alter "girls" to serve. Hmmmm I wonder if there was any ulterior motive behind THAT preference.
Back to the subject of the thread, I watched the videos and viewed the photos from the funeral for John Sigsbee. It was beautiful, and solemn. He was sent off with proper respect and honors, and it is wonderful that he is laid to rest in a national cemetery with other military heroes.
My prayers are for the family and the community to be able to heal and be consoled in their grief, and to move on with their lives, knowing that he gave his life that others might live. Whatever our personal take on the war, John obviously must have believed in the mission, as evidenced by his desire to return to Iraq after being wounded the first time. God bless him, and keep him.
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