Ltte to my congress critter regarding our new Pope

[nadinbrzezinski]

Since they are butting themselves in US Politics....

Dear Madam,

There is this clause in the US Constitution that basically built a nice wall between the Church and the State. It seems that Cardinal Ratzinger (Benedict XII) has a slight problem with this and has now even given his North American Bishops marching orders. Their orders are to butt themselves smack in the middle of US Politics, a purely secular affair. Fine, they want to do that.. ok, they LOOSE their tax exempt status. They want to play, they gotta pay. It is this simple. The price of admission to the Public Sphere IS paying taxes and if need be, participating in a military draft.

I am sure the Council of Bishops in the US will gladly consider this a small price to pay, 35% of all their national income, plus local and state taxes for all their property. Or maybe we should remind them that even Christ understood this... and they should render to Caesar what is Caesar's and stay OUT of US Politics.

[VelmaD]

1. I hate to nitpick...

but it's "lose" not LOOSE

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Ah spell flames

how quaint....

[Scairp]

10. I also

But it's Benedict XVI (16th). XII is twelve.

[aprillcm]

2. Oh Amen!

[patrice]

5. Let's ask ALL "churches" for their Yellow Pages.

And how about all of those Christian BUSINESS code words in their names, like:
Dominion
Eagle anything
fish signs in BUSINESS advertising!!
church YELLOW PAGES
follow the money (and there's a lot of it around Colorado Springs, where they are dealing with Religious Harassment and Discrimination in the Air Force Academy - follow who does business with whom; BUSINESS cartels are forming as we speak).

BUSINESSES that are not taxed at all seeking political domination as religions.

[Frances]

6. The Catholics are going to lose

by their alliance with the right wing fundamentalists. I have read that the Evangelicals are making inroads into the Catholic domination of Central and South America.

One young fundamentalist relative went to Belize on a church-sponsored mission where the kids helped build a school and, of course, "shared their faith." Now another young fundamentalist relative is going to Mexico to do the same thing.

This Catholic pope will see to it that priests don't marry and that lay people don't have power. The Evangelicals, however, are not bound by those restrictions and will have many more people proselytizing and will continue to convert Catholics to their Protestant religions.

This pope would have been wiser to have told priests to speak out against both pro-choice AND politicians who are for the death penalty. That way the pope could have upheld the church's values while not favoring one political party over the other.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. I know, they are loosing big time

This is not good for the Catholic Church... by the way, if this was the Rabinate I would be sayig the same thing...

[patrice]

8. Is it just me or . . . .

Isn't it kind of odd how everything translates into "winners" and "loosers" and war.

That's some weird religious warped thinking. You call that "service" to what or whom?

Very uncreative, Anti-Life. Are you from the anti-Christ? Whom do you bow before?

[Bridget Burke]

9. So--what about the Protestant Churches?

The Dominionist movement has strong Protestant roots--of a virulently anti-Catholic type.

Are their power grabs OK with you?

[Rich Hunt]

11. good question

You hear very little about Pat Robertson and his ilk on this board. On the other hand, there is much information out there, but people don't post it.

Why are people so afraid of doing research and posting it here?

[comsymp]

12. Hear very little about... Now THAT was funny!

Shoulda used the /s tag, though - a lotta literal minded folks won't catch it.

[MountainLaurel]

13. Indeed

We can only assume the poster was being sarcastic, because a quick search for Falwell, Robertson, or Dobson will bring back more threads than any of us could read in a day. Many of the posts will be coming from folks like me who lived the fundie life at one point (often in childhood), and know exactly what sort of evil these folks are up to.

No posts on Protestant Taliban members?
:rofl:

[comsymp]

14. Hell, a quick scan of the various fora's front pages RIGHT NOW

would disabuse one of that notion, if he/she were serious.

Which is, of course, why I assumed sarcasm.

(personal: my dad was a recovering PH - he could tell the funniest stories!!!)