21–30 of 108 posts
Cool, maybe these Christian leaders will finally be accepting of voluntary birth control as a wise form of choosing life — e.g., by acting as a steward of nature and reducing poverty? (Ok, well, even if not, the gesture in support of environmental justice is appreciated)
You want more?
I'm not sure how valuable this is really. Most people, I assume, would wholeheartedly agree but since the CC culprits are not 'Christians who cause climate change', then the pope or Archbishop saying what loads of other people are saying is neither surprising nor worth it. Personally, I would like to see practical ways of acually reducing fossil fuel demands but this is much harder for the church, except in their own…
Cool, maybe these Christian leaders will finally be accepting of voluntary birth control as a wise form of choosing life — e.g., by acting as a steward of nature and reducing poverty? (Ok, well, even if not, the gesture in support of environmental justice is appreciated)
Put another way, birth control is an important topic and without groups that disagree with you we don’t get Alpha/Beta tests.
I'm not sure how valuable this is really. Most people, I assume, would wholeheartedly agree but since the CC culprits are not 'Christians who cause climate change', then the pope or Archbishop saying what loads of other people are saying is neither surprising nor worth it. Personally, I would like to see practical ways of acually reducing fossil fuel demands but this is much harder for the church, except in their own…
there are 1.33 billion catholics in the world
If more people come to believe that they have a moral obligation to do what they can to prevent climate change—including by supporting government interventions and investments, and gracefully accepting higher energy costs and energy taxes—then maybe we can hope for a break in the political logjam that is preventing energy reforms from being implemented in the United States.
Papal infallibility today doesn't seem to be what it was in the past in the minds of many American Catholics, however. There has been a surprising amount of direct criticism of the pope among conservative American Catholics in recent years, many of whom seem to place their political loyalties ahead of their loyalty to the church (which I have found surprising).
Cool, maybe these Christian leaders will finally be accepting of voluntary birth control as a wise form of choosing life — e.g., by acting as a steward of nature and reducing poverty? (Ok, well, even if not, the gesture in support of environmental justice is appreciated)
Thus is the curse of being a religion. You do one thing that general society helps. And then they just criticize another piece of your belief system. There's no system that will perfectly allow people to both find value and meaning in their world AND also promote totally free action of others. Thus we live in a contemporary world of non-religious people seeking out value (look at the current obsession in Silicon Vall…
Once you're intermittent fasting, microdosing, cutting out meat and/or processed foods from your diet, going on "dopamine fasts" without your phone/PC, avoiding tobacco + alcohol because of the harm it does to your body, choosing the media you watch to avoid negativity, confessing to your therapist regularly, seeking out deeper meaningful relationships with people, meditating every day, etc you might as well be religious.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thus is the curse of being a religion. You do one thing that general society helps. And then they just criticize another piece of your belief system. There's no system that will perfectly allow people to both find value and meaning in their world AND also promote totally free action of others. Thus we live in a contemporary world of non-religious people seeking out value (look at the current obsession in Silicon Vall…
Btw, the Catholic Church is not against birth control because it wants to fill up the planet with people. The Church is obliged to teach that sex is supposed to be about a man and a woman taking part in God's ecstatic act of creation, a selfless act of love. Sex without being open to life is porn: without the act of self giving and preparedness to receive children, you are left with a corrupted, self-directed form of…
Nope. I've had 3 kids. I have emotionally and rationally concluded that having another child is inappropriate; it is a form of excess and inbalance. So, I want to have sex for love now. Really, you are going to tell me that, by stopping at 3, I am going against the will of god?
Also, what's up with believing in a God-man that supposedly rules over 100 billion galaxies and yet is so damn petty about human sex lives and other foolishness? I'm all good with the importance of spiritual fulfilment, an underlying faith in an ineffable oneness of the cosmos, and even in the notion that belief in the eternal Logos gives eternal life (i.e., if i believe that my self is vastly bigger than my bodily identity, then "I" don't die with our body). It's comforting and rational.
But damn. Belief in a petty, spiteful God-man? How can people perpetuate such an idea? Just to scare children?
I'm not sure how valuable this is really. Most people, I assume, would wholeheartedly agree but since the CC culprits are not 'Christians who cause climate change', then the pope or Archbishop saying what loads of other people are saying is neither surprising nor worth it. Personally, I would like to see practical ways of acually reducing fossil fuel demands but this is much harder for the church, except in their own…
This is pretty cynical. The Christian church has guided the way in which many people live for thousands of years, and a cross-denominational, united stance against climate change from its leadership is likely to have impact. Certainly a positive development.
The environmentalists have faced stiff resistance in my life time not because anyone likes coal or oil, but because there were no alternatives. It isn't like the Catholics have ever had a point of doctrine like "and yea, your electricity shall only be sourced from fuels that are greater than 60% carbon by mass, for the atomic number 6 is especially holy!". They already have a longer term time horizon than most nations.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
there are 1.33 billion catholics in the world
Yes, and 25% of the US population is Catholic, half of which group votes Republican (i.e., against reforms designed to prevent or slow climate change). If more people come to believe that they have a moral obligation to do what they can to prevent climate change—including by supporting government interventions and investments, and gracefully accepting higher energy costs and energy taxes—then maybe we can hope for a…
That’s a very cynical statement. Goes to show why both sides will never meet in the middle of the road with thinking that way.
Voting republicans doesn’t mean I am against climate change reforms. The issue at hand is how practically we deal with it and reduce demands on fossil fuel and transition to clean energy. Policies touted by a lot of left leaning politicians aren’t practical and many of them know it but they say it anyway. Look at California and its recent outages to any demand spike of utilities as an example.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
there are 1.33 billion catholics in the world
Yes, and 25% of the US population is Catholic, half of which group votes Republican (i.e., against reforms designed to prevent or slow climate change). If more people come to believe that they have a moral obligation to do what they can to prevent climate change—including by supporting government interventions and investments, and gracefully accepting higher energy costs and energy taxes—then maybe we can hope for a…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is pretty cynical. The Christian church has guided the way in which many people live for thousands of years, and a cross-denominational, united stance against climate change from its leadership is likely to have impact. Certainly a positive development.
It is rather cynical but also rather accurate to note that people like being warm in winter, and the Catholic Church is not going to make environmentalism their core mission. They already have a core mission, it involves human souls. The environmentalists have faced stiff resistance in my life time not because anyone likes coal or oil, but because there were no alternatives. It isn't like the Catholics have ever had…
Being a good steward of nature is and has been a very important part of Catholic doctrine for a very long time.