tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post4020721212607039313..comments2024-03-28T12:34:14.649-07:00Comments on dangerous idea: Is Reasonable Faith an Oxymoron?Victor Repperthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10962948073162156902noreply@blogger.comBlogger154125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-78173235474034233112012-02-10T00:10:09.874-07:002012-02-10T00:10:09.874-07:00"Bob I was referring Red Dwarf the scifi come..."Bob I was referring Red Dwarf the scifi comedy Britcom.<br />http://www.reddwarf.co.uk<br /><br />Which is smegging awesome!"<br /><br />One of the most entertaining shows I have watched, regularly.Papalintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03818630173726146048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-22651977042825103422012-02-09T20:50:54.705-07:002012-02-09T20:50:54.705-07:00Bob I was referring Red Dwarf the scifi comedy Bri...Bob I was referring Red Dwarf the scifi comedy Britcom.<br /><br />http://www.reddwarf.co.uk<br /><br />Which is smegging awesome!Son of Ya'Kovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05645132954231868592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-49740764733852503742012-02-09T18:42:22.018-07:002012-02-09T18:42:22.018-07:00Hey, careful there, Ben! I'm in the middle of ...Hey, careful there, Ben! I'm in the middle of writing a book largely about red dwarfs (stars).B. Prokophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548980245078214688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-90567958074333248632012-02-09T16:14:46.272-07:002012-02-09T16:14:46.272-07:00Before I google it what is SRS?
Social Reject Syn...Before I google it what is SRS?<br /><br />Social Reject Syndrome? <br /><br />Society of Red dwarf Sitcoms?Son of Ya'Kovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05645132954231868592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-91565698709778669592012-02-09T13:00:28.203-07:002012-02-09T13:00:28.203-07:00He did go searching the net for SRS?
[chuckle]He <b><i>did</i></b> go searching the net for SRS?<br />[chuckle]Papalintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03818630173726146048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-13325972081085400252012-02-09T12:27:59.568-07:002012-02-09T12:27:59.568-07:00>It's all made up, y'know,
You mean li...>It's all made up, y'know,<br /><br />You mean like your bogus claim Pope St Gregory had the Patriarch of Constantinople burned at the stake?<br /><br />Low brow Atheism.Son of Ya'Kovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05645132954231868592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-23800117954870832352012-02-08T17:55:20.777-07:002012-02-08T17:55:20.777-07:00"Huh? What are you trying to say? Re-word, pl..."Huh? What are you trying to say? Re-word, please. Not sure of your meaning."<br /><br />It's all made up, y'know, like supernaturalism, a figment. I wonder if Ben went searching the net for SRS?<br />[chuckle]Papalintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03818630173726146048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-42499250149797097022012-02-08T15:11:33.420-07:002012-02-08T15:11:33.420-07:00"Once again, evidence of a modern human with ...<i>"Once again, evidence of a modern human with SRS [social retroject Syndrome], a condition in which the mind defines social activity and conventions from earlier civilizations, in this case, ancient iron-age societies, and to posit them as contemporary."</i><br /><br />Huh? What are you trying to say? Re-word, please. Not sure of your meaning.B. Prokophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548980245078214688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-2692649183040716482012-02-08T13:12:33.157-07:002012-02-08T13:12:33.157-07:00"Considering that Canaanite pagan religions s..."Considering that Canaanite pagan religions sacrificed infant children by burning them to death or heating their bodies till they caught fire I am not surprised a pro-abortion Atheist would call that 'totalitarianism.....". <br /> "Considering that Canaan was populated by mostly Nomadic people if you wanted "freedom of religion" you could head on over to Egypt and worship all the idols you want."<br /><br />Once again, evidence of a modern human with SRS [social retroject Syndrome], a condition in which the mind defines social activity and conventions from earlier civilizations, in this case, ancient iron-age societies, and to posit them as contemporary.<br /><br />Ben, your pants are down around your ankles and your Asinine christian wisdom is exposed. Not a pretty sight in civil society.Papalintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03818630173726146048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-13397067463622477092012-02-08T08:48:47.475-07:002012-02-08T08:48:47.475-07:00>But one doesn't kill for atheism, one only...>But one doesn't kill for atheism, one only lives by atheism.<br /><br />Bob knows that's a lie. He speaks Russian remember? He has spoken to persons persecuted behind the Iron Curtain. People who have testified to him they where explicitly persecuted for believing in God and not being Atheists.<br /><br />THE GODLESS LEAGUE in Russia in the name of Atheism persecuted generations of religious believes.<br /><br />Your magical fundie fantasy that all the evil in the world has been done in the name of religion & nobody kills "in the name of Atheism" is Prima facie silly.Son of Ya'Kovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05645132954231868592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-5669221896814714582012-02-08T08:34:08.273-07:002012-02-08T08:34:08.273-07:00>Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the L...>Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed.' Exodus 22:20<br /><br />Considering that Canaanite pagan religions sacrificed infant children by burning them to death or heating their bodies till they caught fire I am not surprised a pro-abortion Atheist would call that 'totalitarianism". <br /><br />They also practiced Temple Prostitution and sexual slavery.<br /><br />Considering that Canaan was populated by mostly Nomadic people if you wanted "freedom of religion" you could head on over to Egypt and worship all the idols you want.Son of Ya'Kovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05645132954231868592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-42393991274951995872012-02-08T06:38:45.724-07:002012-02-08T06:38:45.724-07:00"Has it occurred to you that your "great..."Has it occurred to you that your "great and heartfelt relief" might be because the USA now has a person of genuine Faith at the helm, rather than an impostor?"<br /><br />That is the $64.00 question, isn't it? With christianity you simply cannot tell which is the impostor from which is the impostor. There are no discernible characteristics that distinguishes the christian good from the christian bad from the christian ugly. They all radiate distrust.Papalintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03818630173726146048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-28390924086419314452012-02-08T05:50:30.183-07:002012-02-08T05:50:30.183-07:00Hmm... The USA replaces a phony Christian (as they...Hmm... The USA replaces a phony Christian (as they say in Texas, Bush was "all hat and no cattle") with a genuine one, and you cheer on the genuine one and give him the Nobel Prize, all the time "fearing" his Faith? Your fears seem curiously misplaced. Has it occurred to you that your "great and heartfelt relief" might be because the USA now has a person of genuine Faith at the helm, rather than an impostor?<br /><br />Now you once again fear that the USA will turn out the genuine Christian who is now in office, turning to the non-Christian Mormon, Mitt Romney (Obama's most likely opponent), and yet you fear the replacement will then go about instituting a "Christian totalitarianism"?<br /><br />Strange "logic".<br /><br />And why are you quoting a <i>Jewish</i> text as the purported foundation of a so-called <i>Christian</i> totalitarianism?B. Prokophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548980245078214688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-53955637475816237232012-02-08T05:03:44.132-07:002012-02-08T05:03:44.132-07:00"Atheists in power = Totalitarianism"
C..."Atheists in power = Totalitarianism"<br /><br />Christian doomsday hyperbole, Bob. Garbage in, garbage out. <br /><br />Some reasoned research:<br /><br />1. 'Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed.' Exodus 22:20 [the foundation of christian totalitarianism]<br /><br />2. "It would not be wrong to say that Orwell had the Roman Catholic Church firmly in his mind when he depicted the totalitarian State in Nineteen Eighty-Four. ...... we find a great resemblance between the Catholic Church and Orwell's picture of the totalitarian State in Animal Farm as well as in Nineteen Eighty-Four."<br />Forum on Public Policy <br />'Orwell’s “Smelly Little Orthodoxies”: Absolutism and the Crisis of Our Time' by Everett Helmut Akam, Professor of History and Political Science, Casper College <br /><br />3. "Likewise in totalitarian Catholicism the fundamental rule is "Nothing against the Church, no salvation outside the Church." No tolerance of heretical errors or of disciplinary schisms are theoretically admissible in the Catholic system. By the principle that there is no salvation outside the Church because the Church in the person of the Bishop of Rome, successor of Peter, holds the keys of Heaven, so that whatever he binds or loosens on earth is bound or loosened in Heaven, the totalitarian power of the Church extends over all aspects of human life, and all actions of men from the beginning of their existence in the womb of their mothers to the grave, extends beyond the grave in Purgatory, where the Church can hasten the process of expiation, and even in Heaven, where the decrees of the infallible Pope are duly registered as divine decrees and where the Church can obtain special favors through the cult and the intercession of the saints."<br /><br />George La Piana<br />former John H. Morrison Professor<br />of Church History at Harvard University at: http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/lapiana/section_I.php<br /><br />4. Bob, any form of totalitarianism is dangerous, be it christian or secular. But one doesn't kill for atheism, one only lives by atheism. In fact I am a god-fearing atheist, because christians put more fear into me than most other things. The Santorums, Gingrichs and Romney are the spearheads of christian hegemony and christian sharia in the US today; a complete crumbling of the wall of separation between church and state. A truly frightening prospect for humanity. They will be the masters of the christian totalitarian government of the USA, if reason does not prevail.<br /><br />5. As an insider you just have no idea of how fearful the international community is in relation to the US elections this year. After 8 years of religious administration of the Bush presidency, when Obama won the election, a massive sigh of relief from the international community was simply so astonishing as to be palpable. After only weeks if not months in the job, the world signaled its great and heartfelt relief, by awarding Obama with the Nobel Peace Prize; as a thank you and as a signal to the American people against the religious cowboys. You should read all the international papers as I did, to really understand the enormous relief and gratitude that the US had changed tack. That same consternation and anxiety is again elevating in general commentary, should one of these belligerent christians ever get into the White House. Christian totalitarianism indeed.Papalintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03818630173726146048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-12467514374203528602012-02-07T20:46:55.619-07:002012-02-07T20:46:55.619-07:00Sorry if you thought that was an insult. It wasn&#...Sorry if you thought that was an insult. It wasn't. It was just a statement of (easily provable) fact.<br /><br />Atheists in power = Totalitarianism<br /><br />There has yet to be an exception to this equation in all of history, from the dawn of time until the present. Why should we expect the future to be any different? And since you have explicitly expressed a hope in an atheist future, I can only assume that you will be welcoming the <i>inevitable</i> totalitarianism that will accompany it. <br /><br />I will admit to having fun with you by editing your words (of Feb 5th, 10:54 PM) in order to make them more historically accurate, but I will stand by every word of my re-write.B. Prokophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548980245078214688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-27326267048562684692012-02-07T20:16:14.069-07:002012-02-07T20:16:14.069-07:00"By the way, does being a historian "of ..."By the way, does being a historian "of evident theistic and Christian conviction" automatically disqualify a person from writing a competent book on history? Are you saying that only atheists should be read?"<br /><br />Absolutely not. And I have no argument with his competence in writing such books. But one must not be confused into conflating competence as synonymous with "evident theistic and Christian conviction". It seems Burleigh is very competent in writing a revised history of the mid-20thC in the Apologetical style. on that, he cannot be faulted. But one must be most mindful of other historians such as Prof Mahoney ,who have reviewed and critiqued Burleigh's work within the context of the writer's perspective. Otherwise why would he write, "Burleigh’s eloquently written books are informed by impressive erudition and by deep moral seriousness, <b><i>but he is not a philosophic historian in the manner of those such as Alain Besançon and Martin Malia who have delved deeply into the intellectual origins and the elusive “pseudo-reality” posited by totalitarian ideology</i></b>" [My bolded italics], if they were simply spurious and casual observations?<br /><br />What I am saying, be sure you do note the context in which the author has written, and simply not pass off any work as seminal, with universal acceptance of its conclusions, as though it is gospel. <br /><br />You say, "But then I realized that the athiests' preferred form of government is totalitarianism (Soviet Union, North Korea, etc.). so I guess there's nothing surprising about you not approving of anyone opposed to that system."<br /><br />Please do not stumble headlong into the mired pit of insults and vilification directed personally to one that has put a very sound, reasoned and logical case to the contrary, on the issue of christian political, diplomatic and administrative involvement with Fascism in 20thC conflict. It simply compounds the antithetical and irreconcilable nature of religious praxis and ideology, alongside that of religious philosophy and religious belief, putting a lie to the notion of 'reasonable faith'.<br /><br />Your phantasmic emperor looks pretty silly without clothes.Papalintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03818630173726146048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-27485053887514195612012-02-07T18:54:19.026-07:002012-02-07T18:54:19.026-07:00"He is, instead, an antitotalitarian historia...<i>"He is, instead, an antitotalitarian historian of evident theistic and Christian conviction."</i><br /><br />What? You afraid of encountering an idea in conflict with your atheist orthodoxy? worried that you might actually have to <i>Change Your Mind</i>? Besides, sounds like an <i>ad hominem</i> argument against the author. But I guess that's a safe way for you to proactively inoculate yourself against threatening ideas.<br /><br />By the way, does being a historian "of evident theistic and Christian conviction" automatically disqualify a person from writing a competent book on history? Are you saying that only atheists should be read?<br /><br />And one more thing. I was at first more than a little curious about your quoting the word "antitotalitarian" as though that were some negative trait. But then I realized that the athiests' preferred form of government <i>is</i> totalitarianism (Soviet Union, North Korea, etc.). so I guess there's nothing surprising about you not approving of anyone opposed to that system.B. Prokophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548980245078214688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-31078113830001322752012-02-07T18:25:51.368-07:002012-02-07T18:25:51.368-07:00"The Catholic Church over millennia has been ...<i>"The Catholic Church over millennia has been actively engaged in establishing a supernatural world on the earth"</i><br /><br />Sorta true, depending on the meaning you attach to those words. (Slippery thing, this English language of ours!) I would agree that God, though His Word, is actively engaged in <i>re</i>establishing the harmony between the natural and supernatural worlds that existed prior to the fall, on the Earth. So we have a point of semi-agreement here.<br /><br /><i>"Even the most mundane of human activities and the most natural of physical events have been officially supernaturalized".</i><br /><br />100% true! You and I are in absolute, complete agreement on this one. The Incarnation endowed all of Creation, the whole natural universe, with Divine dignity. To quote myself from a long ago posting: "Mankind’s proper concern is the “emparadising” (to coin a Dantean term) of the Here and Now. And Christ’s Incarnation is the central element of that process. For while, as Genesis says, we are created in the image of God - of even greater importance is that God has also assumed our image in Christ. Through His becoming a human being, the most mundane aspects of our lives are inseparably connected to the divine. Our smallest, most insignificant, and utterly normal activities must be seen as leading us to the Heavenly City. As Dorothy Day would so often say, “All the way to Heaven <i>is</i> Heaven, because Jesus said, ‘I am the Way’.” <br /><br />Nice to see there are some things we can agree on.B. Prokophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548980245078214688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-24375025690910725832012-02-07T18:17:59.744-07:002012-02-07T18:17:59.744-07:00Bob
"By the way, might I recommend to you Mic...Bob<br />"By the way, might I recommend to you Michael Burleigh's Sacred Causes, the follow-up to his magisterial Earthly Powers?"<br /><br />I was very interested to note what Daniel J. Mahoney, Professor of Politics at Assumption College, who received a B.A. from the College of Holy Cross and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Catholic University of America in political science, had to say regarding Burleigh;<br /><br />"Burleigh’s eloquently written books are informed by impressive erudition and by deep moral seriousness, but he is not a philosophic historian in the manner of those such as Alain Besançon and Martin Malia who have delved deeply into the intellectual origins and the elusive “pseudo-reality” posited by totalitarian ideology. He is, instead, an antitotalitarian historian of evident theistic and Christian conviction."<br />http://www.firstprinciplesjournal.com/articles.aspx?article=822&theme=home&loc=b<br /><br />But thanks for the referral of his books.Papalintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03818630173726146048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-85169645921929998732012-02-07T17:54:55.005-07:002012-02-07T17:54:55.005-07:00"Faith" is a dangerous word.
Many a goo..."Faith" is a dangerous word.<br /><br />Many a good thing and many a bad thing has been done in the name of 'faith'. It is utterly indiscriminate, and has as much power in determining what is good and what is bad as guessing. <br /><br />'Reasonable faith' is an oxymoron even from the casual perspective that I use. I personally, am rather a deal too skeptical to place much, if any weight, on 'faith' 'Faith' is little more than conjecture cloaked in the sackcloth of the earthly magisterium. <br /><br />Bob, you say: "Faith tells me that if I make an effort to give of my self, of my worldly goods, of my time, that action will be of as much benefit to myself as to anyone else. Faith tells me that if I don't allow every passing whim to blow me one way or the other, I might actually make some progress in the long run. Faith tells me that whatever the appearance and no matter how unlikely, every person I meet and everyone I have dealings with is the very Image of Christ ("As you did so to one of the least of these my brethren, you did so to Me.") Faith tells me that, in the words of the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, "The world is charged with the grandeur of God" Faith tells me that my conviction of Meaning and Purpose to the world and to my life is Objective Reality, and no product of my imagination."<br /><br />In short précis, "I just <b>cannot</b> believe that I don't live in a faery story. I just <b>cannot</b> believe the faery story doesn't exist, isn't real. I <b>refuse</b> to believe that my parent's faery tale is not Objective Reality. To think so would be so ....... unreal!<br /><br />Unfortunately Bob, the catholic church has not been honest with you. It has treated you like a jerk. The catholic church over millennia has been actively engaged in establishing a supernatural world on the earth. Even the most mundane of human activities and the most natural of physical events have been officially supernaturalized and immortalized, as humans are want to do. Take for example, the doctrine of papal infallibility, or trinitariansm; both are products of earthly discourse and established by written decree. Once agreed at a talk-fest, they are quickly supernaturalized, a process very much reminiscent of alchemy, which differs from modern science in the inclusion of Hermetic principles and practices related to mythology, religion, and spirituality. And the transmutation of base metals into gold, is pretty much homologous to transubstantiation. And as we now know alchemy is faery tale nonsense when contrasted with science.<br /><br /> Just like everything, and I mean everything, that is claimed supernatural, is simply the product of religion superimposing its faery story over what is fundamentally and clearly the natural order of things, a purely sacralizing process. Science is about paring back the superimposition and sacralization processes to unmask the real world.<br /><br />Yet when it comes right down to it, the supernatural and the sacred are at bottom, just sacralizing elements not unlike the practice of cargo cults, with catholicism actually sharing the underlying principle of "cargo", a term which denotes far more than just modern Western goods and commodities loaded onto a plane or truck. Even a mere materialistic understanding of "cargo" is apt to show a basic similarity between cargo cults and catholicism, as the latter generally has a hope for such things as the resurrection of the body in the age to come, along with a variety of concomitant materialistic blessings such as a new Jerusalem, streets of gold, etc. In other words, cargo cults and catholic philosophy have an overlap in that they both tend to have some sort of expectation of an imminent transformation of the cosmic order, which is linked with the arrival of supernaturally given very material blessings. [Here I am indebted to Diglotting]Papalintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03818630173726146048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-22106671201804493962012-02-07T17:35:23.354-07:002012-02-07T17:35:23.354-07:00William, what is the problem? And, if you think th...William, what is the problem? And, if you think that faith and reason are compatible, how do you define the term faith?Tony Hoffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14178419155873935555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-4070659622273372842012-02-07T16:54:43.487-07:002012-02-07T16:54:43.487-07:00I am NOT going to get drawn into a debate with you...I am NOT going to get drawn into a debate with you on this website about the relations between the Catholic Church and Nazi Germany. Read the book I recommended to you above (unless you're afraid of learning something other than the twisted unfacts you have stuffed your head with.) I do not have either the time nor the inclination to point by point refute every insanity you decide to throw up here, and this is one that has been so well shown by better men than me to be utter and complete garbage, that I will henceforth ignore everything you have to say on the subject. I mean it. Seriously. Until you read Burleigh's book, you do not know what you are talking about. Let me know when you've finished it, and then maybe then we'll talk. Until then, you'll be spitting into the wind.B. Prokophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548980245078214688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-50308268893689077142012-02-07T16:51:32.734-07:002012-02-07T16:51:32.734-07:00if I had to define the term faith I'd say that...if I had to define the term faith I'd say that it means to have hope that an outcome will occur based on a world guided with a divine purpose. <br />---<br /><br />So, the above definition means that to really have faith means that God must really exist? <i>Now</i> I see the problem. I must reluctantly admit, I cannot solve it for you.Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12533263841520213358noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-71202868072023399082012-02-07T16:42:20.915-07:002012-02-07T16:42:20.915-07:00Bob
"But I don't think it's fair to c...Bob<br />"But I don't think it's fair to call my response to the murder of tens of millions of people "hysteria". If the worst atrocities in history don't deserve a vigorous condemnation, then what does?"<br /><br />With over 95% of the German population christians, I have no doubt that it was christians that pulled the triggers, strung the garrotes and pressed the Zyklon B gas buttons, drove the Bulldozers for the trenches and dumped the bodies, for at least 95 of the 100 soldiers at the time.<br /><br />It is right to respond in 'hysteria' of the murder of tens of millions of people. But it is not right to claim that those tens of millions of murders was done by not one christian. The Nazi party, the SS and the SA were filled with christians, membership being about 95% christian. <br />Even lowly statistics bring an element of truth as to whose claim has the more accurate explanation.<br /><br />The other egregious statement: "On the one hand, you are laying the blame for two world wars, horrific political systems, and the Holocaust on Christianity, but in the next breath you are labeling the supposed instigator of such world-shattering events "weak and ineffectual", simply beggars belief.<br /><br />We know first hand from long history the bloodied hands of christian piety. It is both reasonable and accurate that Germany, with a population of 95% christians from the census conducted just prior to the war, committed the most heinous and most diabolical of crimes against humanity ever witnessed. The weakness and ineffectiveness refers to christianity that:<br /><br />1. Did not prophesy the oncoming holocaust<br /><br />2. Absolutely believed Hitler was good for 'God and country'<br /><br />3. Indifference on the part of Pope Pius XII on the plight of Jews in Europe in WWII. Signing of the concordat with Germany.<br /> <br />http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/pius.html <br /><br />http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_rothschild05.htm<br /><br />And the effect of the concordat? "Most historians consider the Reichskonkordat an important step toward the international acceptance of Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. Guenter Lewy, political scientist and author of The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany, wrote:<br />"There is general agreement that the Concordat increased substantially the prestige of Hitler's regime around the world. As Cardinal Faulhaber put it in a sermon delivered in 1937: "At a time when the heads of the major nations in the world faced the new Germany with cool reserve and considerable suspicion, the Catholic Church, the greatest moral power on earth, through the Concordat expressed its confidence in the new German government. This was a deed of immeasurable significance for the reputation of the new government abroad."<br />The Catholic Church was not alone in signing treaties with the Nazi regime at this point. The concordat was preceded by the Four-Power Pact Hitler had signed in June 1933. John Cornwell reports that "millions of Catholics joined the Nazi Party, believing that it had the support of the Pope." [Wiki]<br /><br />I say, clear evidence of the basis of catholic morality and ethics being weak and vacillating.Papalintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03818630173726146048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-11918459345057905012012-02-07T16:22:34.664-07:002012-02-07T16:22:34.664-07:00William, if I had to define the term faith I'd...William, if I had to define the term faith I'd say that it means to have hope that an outcome will occur based on a world guided with a divine purpose. <br /><br />Under that definition, I would say that I question the reasonableness of faith because a) it doesn't seem to predict anything better than chance, and b) I don't perceive a divine purpose in our world.Tony Hoffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14178419155873935555noreply@blogger.com