It was a joke, OK? I could write a book on why the guy is a bad President, but I wouldn't convince the people who are bedazzled by his skin color or deep voice or whatever it is that people actually see in him.
It's the double standard that kills me. The liberals and their mouthpieces in the media never shut up about how often Bush took vacations and played golf, etc, but with Obama they are quick to rush in with "It's a tough job and he needs lot of breaks, etc."
Besides, the President of the U.S. probably works more on vacation than most of us do at work.
It's obvious to me you're from another country, but it doesn't change my point. Far too many of the people who really like Obama don't know anything about him nor what he's doing.
Yeah, but he's Obama. Whatever he does is right. Even if it's the same thing that Bush did. Get with the program here. The Glorious Leader is always right. If he seems to be wrong, it is reality that is mistaken.
Or do you mean helped like the way the Catholic Church maintained a stance of indifference during the holocaust on grounds of "neutrality"?
You mean how he had to walk a fine line between doing everything possible to condemn atrocities without provoking people who could very easily send a batallion to take out the Vatican? Or how he _personally_ saved the lives of thousands of Jews in Italy and helped support the rescuing of hundreds of thousands more? Or how the Chief Rabbi of Rome converted to Christianity after seeing the Pope's example and took the Pope's first name "Eugenio" as his baptismal name?
fact that science seems to have thrived much better under other religions than christianity
Yes, let's talk about that. Science flourished very well in the Middle East for a couple centuries and then pretty much stopped by the 13th century or so. Meanwhile, the place where most scientific and cultural progress was made for most of the last 2000 years was Christian Europe. The first universities? Christian Europe. The first hospitals? Christian Europe. The preservation and propagation of Hellenistic philosophy? Christian Europe. The Scientific Method? Christian Europe. The Industrial Revolution? Christian Europe and Christian America (having its roots going back all the way to 16th and 17th century monasteries).
Yes, other parts of the world were more advanced at some times, mostly more than 1000 years ago, and nowadays there are many parts of the world that are not predominantly Christian that have caught up in terms up degree of continuing progress, but the most consistent and rapid progress have almost always been made in places that were predominantly Christian.
You know it's so funny how much mileage you critics get out of one event. If this were a constant thing over centuries you might have a point, but if you look beyond Galileo, you don't have much to go on, do you? Didn't think so.
The situation with Galileo was as much political as anything, and in fact, Galileo was forbidden to claim he had proven heliocentrism... and in fact he hadn't, but that it was merely a hypothesis. So yes, in this one case the leadership of the Church was wrong, and that one event defines 2000 years of history, right?
I can't mod you up Rakarra, so I will just say, "Well said!"
It's so funny to me that when it comes to the topic of _criticizing_ religion there is so much absurdity, bigotry and abandonment of logic. Really, some of these folks make the most wild-eyed, foaming-at-the-mouth fundamentalist look reserved.
Perhaps you should understand what papal infallibility actually means before you start running off at the mouth. Papal infallibility "ex cathedra" has been invoked exactly twice in Church history. Once for the declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the 1850s and second the declaration of the dogma of the Assumption in 1950.
Your other assertions about the Pope are equally specious. Condoms in fact are pretty poor at preventing the transmission of AIDS since they are also pretty poor at preventing pregnancy. There is no evidence that the current Benedict was ever involved in "covering up or abetting" child molestation, but in fact has worked hard to hold those priests and bishops who did accountable. It may be possible to criticize him for not doing enough, but he has certainly never done what you claimed.
The Pope in his general actions in day to day life is as fallible as you or I. It is only when he speaks in communion with the Bishops of the Church on the matters of faith and morals, or makes an "ex cathedra" proclamation (which as I pointed out has only happened twice in 2000 years) is he considered to be infallible.
Hypothesis: Anonymous Coward is ignorant and wrong. Observation: AC spews a bunch of ignorant ranting using completely incorrect understanding of simple concepts and tries to couch it in logical terms to make himself look smart. Conclusion: AC is indeed ignorant. And looks really foolish. Response: Suggest AC lighten on the pedantry.
Wow. Considering the church created the first universities in Europe and fostered education, philosophy and cultural development throughout its history and the fact that many of the most famous scientists in history were Catholic and often priests or religious, I find the perpetuation of that particular meme to be pretty amusing, if sad.
The Roman Church acknowledges the apostolic succession is intact in the Orthodox Church and that their sacraments are valid. There are already something like 15 eastern Rites which are in communion with Rome, and I am optimistic that the Orthodox Church will someday soon be among them. They have a rich tradition and culture.
I live near downtown Washington, D.C., and while everyone visits the National Cathedral, which is a really impressive piece of architecture, very few people probably realize that only a few blocks away is the Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Saint Sophia, which while much smaller is no less impressive.
As a Roman Catholic, the idea of being in full communion with this wonderful tradition is something to be hoped and prayed for, as is the reuniting of all Christianity.
You can have fine-tuned death machine of acid and fire that you jigsawed together and quite probably can't reproduce again later, or you can a nicely pre-packaged steaming pile that takes most of the useful stuff away...
I know what all those words mean, but I can't figure out what you're trying to say.
Slashdot Mirror
OK, you fixed one mistake. Now what's up with having to link to a Facebook account?
It was a joke, OK? I could write a book on why the guy is a bad President, but I wouldn't convince the people who are bedazzled by his skin color or deep voice or whatever it is that people actually see in him.
It's the double standard that kills me. The liberals and their mouthpieces in the media never shut up about how often Bush took vacations and played golf, etc, but with Obama they are quick to rush in with "It's a tough job and he needs lot of breaks, etc."
Besides, the President of the U.S. probably works more on vacation than most of us do at work.
It's obvious to me you're from another country, but it doesn't change my point. Far too many of the people who really like Obama don't know anything about him nor what he's doing.
_Nobody_ knows what "beta" means any more.
To Microsoft it means "We really want to release this, but it's too buggy even for our standards, but here, we'll let you buy it anyway."
To Firefox it means, "Time to revamp the UI from the ground up."
To Google it means, "We've released it and we know it needs more work, but we're too busy working on our next beta."
To Slashdot it means "Beta? What's a beta? We just test everything new in production."
Wait. The U.S. has a Constitution?
'll admit to not being well enough informed on the current US economic situation to comment with confidence
Yeah, I've noticed most fans of Obama say things like this.
Obama made a lot of crazy promises. You can't expect him to actually keep them, or even remember what they are.
Yeah, but he's Obama. Whatever he does is right. Even if it's the same thing that Bush did. Get with the program here. The Glorious Leader is always right. If he seems to be wrong, it is reality that is mistaken.
Hopefully with all the practice, he has a better golf score.
Or do you mean helped like the way the Catholic Church maintained a stance of indifference during the holocaust on grounds of "neutrality"?
You mean how he had to walk a fine line between doing everything possible to condemn atrocities without provoking people who could very easily send a batallion to take out the Vatican? Or how he _personally_ saved the lives of thousands of Jews in Italy and helped support the rescuing of hundreds of thousands more? Or how the Chief Rabbi of Rome converted to Christianity after seeing the Pope's example and took the Pope's first name "Eugenio" as his baptismal name?
These links give a pretty good summary:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/vat_hol12.htm
http://www.zenit.org/article-29766?l=english
http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods48.html
Read a little history and don't just swallow the leftie and commie propaganda.
fact that science seems to have thrived much better under other religions than christianity
Yes, let's talk about that. Science flourished very well in the Middle East for a couple centuries and then pretty much stopped by the 13th century or so. Meanwhile, the place where most scientific and cultural progress was made for most of the last 2000 years was Christian Europe. The first universities? Christian Europe. The first hospitals? Christian Europe. The preservation and propagation of Hellenistic philosophy? Christian Europe. The Scientific Method? Christian Europe. The Industrial Revolution? Christian Europe and Christian America (having its roots going back all the way to 16th and 17th century monasteries).
Yes, other parts of the world were more advanced at some times, mostly more than 1000 years ago, and nowadays there are many parts of the world that are not predominantly Christian that have caught up in terms up degree of continuing progress, but the most consistent and rapid progress have almost always been made in places that were predominantly Christian.
You know it's so funny how much mileage you critics get out of one event. If this were a constant thing over centuries you might have a point, but if you look beyond Galileo, you don't have much to go on, do you? Didn't think so.
The situation with Galileo was as much political as anything, and in fact, Galileo was forbidden to claim he had proven heliocentrism... and in fact he hadn't, but that it was merely a hypothesis. So yes, in this one case the leadership of the Church was wrong, and that one event defines 2000 years of history, right?
I can't mod you up Rakarra, so I will just say, "Well said!"
It's so funny to me that when it comes to the topic of _criticizing_ religion there is so much absurdity, bigotry and abandonment of logic. Really, some of these folks make the most wild-eyed, foaming-at-the-mouth fundamentalist look reserved.
Try reading the Church fathers, particularly Augustine and Aquinas and see if you still feel that way.
Well, it's never happened.
Perhaps you should understand what papal infallibility actually means before you start running off at the mouth. Papal infallibility "ex cathedra" has been invoked exactly twice in Church history. Once for the declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the 1850s and second the declaration of the dogma of the Assumption in 1950.
Your other assertions about the Pope are equally specious. Condoms in fact are pretty poor at preventing the transmission of AIDS since they are also pretty poor at preventing pregnancy. There is no evidence that the current Benedict was ever involved in "covering up or abetting" child molestation, but in fact has worked hard to hold those priests and bishops who did accountable. It may be possible to criticize him for not doing enough, but he has certainly never done what you claimed.
The Pope in his general actions in day to day life is as fallible as you or I. It is only when he speaks in communion with the Bishops of the Church on the matters of faith and morals, or makes an "ex cathedra" proclamation (which as I pointed out has only happened twice in 2000 years) is he considered to be infallible.
Hypothesis: Anonymous Coward is ignorant and wrong.
Observation: AC spews a bunch of ignorant ranting using completely incorrect understanding of simple concepts and tries to couch it in logical terms to make himself look smart.
Conclusion: AC is indeed ignorant. And looks really foolish.
Response: Suggest AC lighten on the pedantry.
hinder scientific progress
Wow. Considering the church created the first universities in Europe and fostered education, philosophy and cultural development throughout its history and the fact that many of the most famous scientists in history were Catholic and often priests or religious, I find the perpetuation of that particular meme to be pretty amusing, if sad.
Plus we have better movies. Compare "The Ten Commandments" to "Battlefield Earth".
you forget that priests have laid claim to the moral high ground and hackers have not
You've never witnessed a discussion among hackers about C formatting or which editor is better, have you?
So to convert 600 million hours of TV advertising in terms of "intellectual work" you're talking about, what, an hour and a half?
If I were you, I'd keep a lookout for those traitorous members of PURGE.
You mean the ones who can't agree with each other? About anything?
Duh. There's a moon to light the way. Just be sure you don't pick a month when it eats the Sun. That could be a problem.
The Roman Church acknowledges the apostolic succession is intact in the Orthodox Church and that their sacraments are valid. There are already something like 15 eastern Rites which are in communion with Rome, and I am optimistic that the Orthodox Church will someday soon be among them. They have a rich tradition and culture.
I live near downtown Washington, D.C., and while everyone visits the National Cathedral, which is a really impressive piece of architecture, very few people probably realize that only a few blocks away is the Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Saint Sophia, which while much smaller is no less impressive.
As a Roman Catholic, the idea of being in full communion with this wonderful tradition is something to be hoped and prayed for, as is the reuniting of all Christianity.
You can have fine-tuned death machine of acid and fire that you jigsawed together and quite probably can't reproduce again later, or you can a nicely pre-packaged steaming pile that takes most of the useful stuff away...
I know what all those words mean, but I can't figure out what you're trying to say.