Woah. Religion makes my brain hurt.
4 Likes
I thought there were 15.
12 Likes
In the days before Vatican II, people would go to confession every week, but take communion once a month or so. Now, they take communion whenever, andā¦ what confession?
Even the stuff thatās doctrinal is still hard to explain correctly without committing heresy.
Fortunately I view religions as more of a reference point than something that is literally true.
Iāve heard Evangelicals say that present-day Catholics are not permitted to own Bibles. That statement is patently ridiculous, but what is the truth behind it? Was there some sort of restriction, beyond suppression of self-directed religious study? I know Catholics even today are not much for free interpretation of the Bible, but thatās a far cry from suppressing the Bible itself.
Iāve also heard that there are a lot of different cultural influences that got absorbed into various Catholic traditions, and this was by design. If this is by design, itās something I can definitely get behind. Otherwise, itās still pretty cool how ancient local pre-Christian traditions are preserved by Catholics of different nationalities.
5 Likes
Lay people used to be not allowed to read the Bible ā you had to be clergy for that.
Back when literacy was low that was no big deal, but as literacy increased it became more of an issue. In the English-speaking world, the big event was when the King James Bible was printed in the Netherlands (because they never would have managed to print it in England without being found out) and smuggled into England. For the first time the non-clergy who could read English could read the Bible. And therefore make up their own mind what was in it.
And sure enough, Protestantism soon followed. It wasnāt all over Henry wanting a divorce.
So the Evangelicals are just 400 years out of date.
I donāt think of the Catholic church taking over pagan stuff as benign or nice. Mostly it was just a political ploy to control what the locals wouldnāt give up. Like in France a lot of roadside crosses have been erected where old pagan shrines were; a lot of early churches were built over temples (including the Vatican). I suppose it could be seen as progress but to me itās erasure, just because it was deliberate and used as a means of establishing authority.
12 Likes
A few years ago I was invited to a dedication of an organ that had been salvaged from a Lutheran church, completely refurbished at great expense, and installed in one of the only Catholic churches in Chicago that still does things the pre-Vatican II way.
Not only was the service in Latin, but the priests did the entire thing speaking at normal volume with no microphones and facing AWAY from the congregation, basically acting like they were engaged in a private ceremony amongst themselvesā¦as if there werenāt a couple thousand people right behind them. It was a āregularā mass that lasted 2 hours before the 5 minute dedication. The only interaction between the priests and the congregation was when they turned around to offer Communion. There was an admonishment in both English and Spanish in the program detailing exactly who was and wasnāt allowed to come forward. It felt medieval, and not in a good way. The parishioners were there basically to drop their offerings on the plate. Even when it was done, there was no communication between people, just a silent filing out of the pews to leave. I couldnāt get out of there fast enough.
And yes, there was a table right when you walked in, which remained staffed the entire time, teaching all about the horrors of abortion and why you had to oppose it or you werenāt a good Catholic and would go to Hell.
Neither in that front area, nor in the program, was there any discussion about support groups, food drives, clothing donations, concern for any parishioners who were sick or otherwise in difficulty, etc. It was all the worst parts of religion without any of the strengths.
12 Likes
better sex ed = lower abortionsā¦
10 Likes
As a girl, my wife got in trouble with the nuns at her school for reading the Bible. There was always fear that lay people might get the right wrong idea.
https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/400x/61717286.jpg
The KJV was ordered by the king (hence the name), partly for political reasons, and printed by the Kingās Printer, who had a cozy monopoly to print bibles. The Great Bible had actually been authorized by Henry VIII well before that. The Tyndale Bible and the Geneva Bible were printed abroad, to avoid the inconvenience of being burned at the stake (didnāt work for Tyndale), but the Geneva Bible later became legal in Britain.
.
6 Likes
Much more basic than that. They had absolutely no idea of why there was a distinction between Catholic and Protestant at all.
Depending on the available time, my answer would vary. The long version began with ālet me tell you about this guy named Martin Lutherā¦ā.
The short version was āProtestantism is basically capitalist-Christianity, while Catholicism is feudal-Christianity, but the history of it all is rather complicatedā.
6 Likes
I thought that the Geneva bible was smuggled in; the King James bible had state support.
And of course, most Protestants are Catholics, since most believe in the Nicaean Creed, whether the original of 325, or the revised version of 381, and anathematize other Christians. (In turn, the consensus creeds of 359 to 361 would get non-consensus additions anathematizing consubstantialists and anyone who wanted to continue the controversies.)
2 Likes
O_o
Mainline Protestantism is. Evangelical Protestantism is slave holder Christianity.
6 Likes
Which one was this? St John Cantius comes to mind, but there are others like it in Chicago.
When you first mentioned it, I wanted to go for religious tourism purposes, but on second thought, nah. Iāve had my fill of the extremist Traditionalist Catholics in northwest Indiana. They scare the poo out of me.
3 Likes
Ding, ding, dingā¦we have a winner!
6 Likes
Ahā¦the organ was from a United Methodist church originally, not Lutheran. Not that itās germane to the story, but pedants will pedant.
7 Likes
Beautiful church! Sorry it was so weird for you.
6 Likes
Slight correction on this, if I may be so bold: in all people who use condoms throughout their adult sex lives, 5% of people will experience an unwanted pregnancy despite (self-reported) āperfect useā.
It seems like a small difference but actually it changes the figure from being ā1 in 20 condoms donāt functionā to āone in 20 people will get unlucky over a lifetime of condom usageā, which is an important distinction to make, given it drastically reduces the per-use failure rate to near-zero.
11 Likes
I heard it was that 1 in 20 malfunction. If itās what you said instead, thatās a huge difference, so thanks for pointing that out.
Still, there are a lot of people out there who donāt use condoms anywhere near perfectly. Itās hard to find statistics for imperfect use, but Iām sure there are people whose failure rate is almost certainty.
3 Likes
This (randomly found image, I hasten to add) is what I picture when I think of āimperfect useā:
6 Likes
The WHO has much more comprehensive analysis on a global scale but itās Friday night and Stranger Things has just been released, so I will leave the googling to you. 
This article puts it at a 2% failure rate with perfect use over a year, which is worse than 5% over a lifetime but still significantly better than a 1 in 20 chance of a condom failing to function with each use:
Abstinence only education has a lot to answer for, not least the spreading of bullshit statistics. As the article puts it, if 1 in 20 condoms you use doesnāt work, youāre doing something very, very wrongā¦
11 Likes
Suffocation must be a fairly effective form of birth control
6 Likes
Most women donāt know theyāre pregnant until they miss a period.
This will ensure that teen pregnancy rate skyrockets.
13 Likes