Ouch! I've been insulted by a guy who can't distinguish between a christian activist and a homicidal maniac. The only thing worse would be praise from such a clod.
Martin Luther King was a Christian Activist. Desmond Tutu is a Christian Activist. Jack Spong is a Christian Activist. Jerry Falwell is a hatemonger. Jerry Falwell agreed with Osama Bin Ladin on the appropriateness of New York as a target, if not with the same motives. There's nothing Christian about either man's stance.
Digression: how obnoxious of onedigitallife. Chicago, how dare you steal the copyrighted image that they already stole?!?!?
Something tells me I'm fortunate to not know who Jack Spong is. Thanks for the lesson in theology, since I'm an atheist I have to defer to others on the finer points of Christianity. But what makes you a better authority than Falwell? My fundie friends tell me that Catholics aren't really Christians, either, but they do have nice old cathedrals. And if I cut the field down too far, Scientology will be the biggest religion in the US, which would bother me some.
Being an atheist, you might not want to make a call such as "so and so is a Christian activist". Jack Spong, btw, is the retired Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark (the Diocese for which I currently work), and is the author of many theology books, such as Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, and Living in Sin?: A Bishop Rethinks Homosexuality, the publication of which is one of the events that allows us to have actual discussion on homosexual marriage today. Your fundie friends are wrong. Mother Theresa comes to mind as an example of just how wrong they are.
Just curious. Why do they say Catholics aren't Christians? I would be very interested to know how they reach that conclusion. I'm not a Catholic, and I know that several of the positions they have taken are a reach, but Catholicism does fit inside the tent. Your friends sound like they are talking nonsense.
According to an evangelical neighbor we had in Argentina when we were kids, my Catholic parents weren't Christians because they (and other catholics) worshipped the virgen Mary, they prayed to the saints, they believed that they needed confession by a priest in order to be absolved of sin, (which meant that they were rejecting Christ's grace but asking for a man's forgiveness), Oh, and because the Pope was the Antichrist and Rome was the new Babylon. I think that just about covers it.
I agree with most of that but it is still a Christ-centered denomination, shaky as that makes it. In any case, this is not a big deal to me. Just curious how deep some folks take it.
Something involving the pope, and the rituals they have being bad for some reason. Blood of Christ, that sort of thing. That stuff doesn't go too far with me, obviously. They also are happy to disparage Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. We have an understanding - they don't tell me I'm going to hell and I don't tell them that they're wasting their time with silly nonsensical stuff. One trait that does seem pretty common in all of these folks, including this guy Christopher D - many Christians seem pretty convinced that their interpretation of the religion is the correct one and they readily dismiss those who don't go along with it as less worthy or un-Christian or whatever.
I have met her in real life. And she's actually worse looking and more annoying than on television. This was probably 97 or 98, mind you, before she was a really big deal and perhaps before she was on television. It was one of those DC-black tie fundraiser events and I happened to be having some drinks at a reception afterward with a mix of folks, Rs and Ds (I'm solidly not an R, though). She was hanging off Matt Drudge like, to quote Ronald Miller "A cheap F***ing suit". Not really a fan of Drudge, but I ended up talking to him about an article I wrote about some the legal issues arising from his lawsuit against Sidney Blumethal in case he wanted to read it (sadly, on the legal side, Drudge was in the right); she had to shoehorn her way into the conversation, spewing venom about, and basically reiterating everything I had already said as though it was some novel addition to the discussion. I said "OK, thanks", turned and went to get another drink. Judging by what I heard her say as I walked away, I don't think she appreciated being ignored.
Thanks for your response. I have a very clear view of what I see in the Catholic church but I don't care to hijack this thread to go into it in detail right now.
I have met her in real life. And she's actually worse looking and more annoying than on television. This was probably 97 or 98, mind you, before she was a really big deal and perhaps before she was on television. It was one of those DC-black tie fundraiser events and I happened to be having some drinks at a reception afterward with a mix of folks, Rs and Ds (I'm solidly not an R, though). Maybe it was the drinks or maybe it was the fact that she's so disagreeable to everyone. She was hanging off Matt Drudge like, to quote Ronald Miller "A cheap F***ing suit". Not really a fan of Drudge, but I ended up talking to him about an article I wrote about some the legal issues arising from his lawsuit against Sidney Blumethal in case he wanted to read it (sadly, on the legal side, Drudge was in the right); she had to shoehorn her way into the conversation, spewing venom about, and basically reiterating everything I had already said as though it was some novel addition to the discussion. I said "OK, thanks", turned and went to get another drink. Judging by what I heard her say as I walked away, I don't think she appreciated being ignored.
I just chortle in amusement when a born-again tells me that. For god's sake, people, Catholics freakin' invented Christianity. As I understand it, it's because we don't get "saved." We don't yammer on about accepting Jesus as our personal savior and the like. I guess it's pretty much assumed that jesus is our savior when we participate in the various sacraments.
Why, you'll feel cheated if there's not another ten pages of "I wouldn't screw Coulter with Loney's dick?" For the record, I would do Dowd and enthusiastically do Judith Regan. No to Molly Ivins and Eleanor Clift and Julianne Malveaux.
Forgive my heavy-handedness if you will. I've just been completing a study of ten parishes' evangelism and growth ministries here in the Diocese of Newark, and to hear Jerry Falwell's name along side the term "Christian Activist" piqued me a wee bit. Or, if you prefer, some of my best friends are Fundies. We just don't happen to agree on a bunch of things.
Wrong. Except that Jesus clearly states that " no one comes to the Father but through me." Not through a man with a long robe in a little booth someplace, not through Christ's mother...through Jesus Christ alone. And that is just for starters. And then there is all the other made-up stuff like priests not being married, when Peter, who is supposedly the first pope, was married himself.
That, and the whole confession thing really grates on the fundies. I used to be embarrased by our church, but the whole "Christian" movement makes us look relatively sane.
You're confusing the trappings - the manmade stuff - with the faith. Catholics are Christian, whether the fundies think so or not.