Thursday, July 2, 2015

"Laudato Si" quotes you'll never hear from secular atheists

On the US only giving foreign aid if mothers stop having children in poor countries: "Instead of resolving the problems of the poor and thinking of how the world can be different, some can only propose a reduction in the birth rate. At times, developing countries face forms of international pressure which make economic assistance contingent on certain policies of "reproductive health"...to blame population growth instead of extreme selective consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues." LS, 50


"Judaeo-Christian thought demythologized nature. While continuing to admire its grandeur and immensity, it no longer saw nature as divine. In doing so, it emphasizes all the more our human responsibility for nature"  LS, 78


Dear those who think evolution explains the totality of how humans came to be: "Human beings, even if we postulate a process of evolution, also possess a uniqueness which cannot be fully explained by the evolution of other open systems....[humans have] a uniqueness which transcends the spheres of physics and biology"  LS, 81


"We have only one heart, and the same wretchedness which leads us to mistreat an animal will not be long in showing itself in our relationships with other people."  LS, 92


"If architecture reflects the spirit of an age, our megastructures and drab apartment blocks express the spirit of globalized technology, where a constant flood of new products coexists with a tedious monotony."  LS, 113


"When we fail to acknowledge the worth of a poor person, a human embryo, or a person with disabilities, it becomes difficult to hear the cry of nature itself; everything is connected" LS 117


"Our relationship with the environment can never be isolated from our relationship with others and with God. Otherwise, it would be nothing more than romantic individualism dressed up in ecological garb, locking us into a stifling immanence."  LS, 119


"Since everything is interrelated, concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion. How can we genuinely teach the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings, however troublesome or inconvenient they may be, if we fail to protect a human embryo"  LS, 120


On welfare never being permanent: "Helping the poor financially must always be a provisional solution in the face of pressing needs. The broader objective should always be to allow them a dignified life through work."  LS, 128


Huge irony I'd never thought of: "It is troubling that, when some ecological movements defend the integrity of the environment, rightly demanding that certain limits be imposed on scientific research, they sometimes fail to apply those same principles to human life. There is a tendency to justify transgressing all boundaries when experimentation is carried out on living human embryos"  LS, 136


"A wholesome social life can light up a seemingly undesirable environment...the feeling of asphyxiation brought on by densely populated residential areas is countered if close and warm relationships develop...in this way any place can turn from being a hell on earth into the setting for a dignified life."  LS, 148


"we need to grow in the conviction that a decrease in the pace of production and consumption can at times give rise to another form of progress and development."  LS, 191

Dear Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Steven Hawking, et. al.: "It cannot be maintained that empirical science provides a complete explanation of life"  LS, 199


“If someone has not learned to stop and admire something beautiful, we should not be surprised if he or she treats everything as an object to be used and abused without scruple.”  LS, 215


“Many people today sense a profound imbalance which drives them to frenetic activity and makes them feel busy, in a constant hurry which in turns leads them to ride rough-shod over everything around them.”  LS, 225


“We have had enough of immorality and the mockery of ethics, goodness, faith and honesty.  It is time to acknowledge that light-hearted superficiality has done us no good.”  LS, 229


“A world of exacerbated consumption is at the same time a world which mistreats life in all its forms.”  LS, 230


The Sacraments are a privileged way in which nature is taken up by God to become a means of mediating supernatural life.”  LS, 235


It is in the Eucharist that all that has been created finds its greatest exaltation.  Grace, which tends to manifest itself tangibly, found unsurpassable expression when God himself became man and gave himself as food for his creatures.”  LS, 236


“The Eucharist is also a source of light and motivation for our concerns for the environment, directing us to be stewards of all creation.”  LS, 236


“The day of rest, centered on the Eucharist, sheds its light on the whole week, and motivates us to greater concern for nature and the poor.”  LS, 237



Awesome Conclusion:  “In the heart of this world, the Lord of life, who loves us so much, is always present.  He does not abandon us, he does not leave us alone, for he has united himself definitively to our earth, and his love constantly impels us to find new ways forward.  Praise be to him!”  LS, 245
(That's called hitting a walk off home run AND dropping the mic at the same time!)

9 comments:

  1. So let's just listen to a bronze age book , written by middle eastern nomads, authors unknown. A book that was translated over and over and over again , and probably has little or even no resemblance to the original. A book that contradicts itself on many levels and is based on no credible evidence whatsoever, yet absolutely requires one to follow with blind faith, or hell as a consequence. A supposedly "moral" book that promotes misogyny, slavery, rape, polygamy, incest, stoning, mass murder, etc. A book that tells us the earth is flat, that the sun revolves around the earth, that bats are birds, and that epilepsy is demon possession. A book that has talking snakes and thus requires one to stick his head in the sand when science makes verifiable discoveries that may contradict it. Yes of course, let's follow the Bible, certainly much more credible than science, which is completely based on evidence and , unlike most religions, is always more than willing to admit when proven wrong.

    You never fail to amuse me ! I just love coming here to see what's next in your little bag of
    tricks ! Such fun ! :)

    Hurry and post again tomorrow !! Can't wait ! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. The bible is immoral. Among the many disgusting things it promotes and condones, it says a women must marry a man who rapes her. Clearly a bunch of men made this "rule" so they could rape women and have wives as nothing more than property.

    The Bible has inconsistencies and inaccuracies and complete falsehoods. If one accept's the Bible as the "word of god" then you better accept the following:

    Plants existed before the Sun and Moon (Genesis 1:11-16)

    The Earth is created before the Sun (Genesis 1)

    The Sun and Moon are set in a physical firmament above the Earth (Genesis 1:16-17)

    The Moon is a/produces light (Genesis 1:16, Isaiah 13:10)

    Global flood (Genesis..mentioned several other times in later books)

    Humanity at a time of civilization which would have enabled large scale construction projects shared a single language (Genesis 11)

    Diverse language happened instantly rather than gradually (Genesis 11)

    The Hebrew population in Egypt somehow goes from dozens to millions in a few hundred years. (Exodus)

    Hares and coneys are ruminants (Leviticus 11:5-6)

    God's cure for lepers (Leviticus 14:2-52)

    Snakebites are cured by a brass serpent on a pole (Numbers 21:8)

    Giants (way too many passages Numbers, Deuteronomy, 2 Samuel, Amos)

    Dragons (Deuteronomy 32:33, Psalms 148:7)

    The Sun apparently moves and can be made to stand still so that people can sneak attack others at night (Joshua 10:12-13)

    The Earth has pillars...(1 Samuel 2:8, Job 9:6,26:11,38:4-6...etc)

    Pi = 3(1 Kings 7:23, 2 Chronicles 4:2)

    Either the Earth stopped rotating and moved backward a bit or the Sun moved backward on its own...well, we know what the Bible says about the relationship between the two. (2 Kings 20:11)

    The Earth doesn't move.(1 Chronicles 16:30, Job 38:4-6, Psalms 93:1, 96:10...and a lot of other places where it mentions that the Earth is set on foundations)

    People think in their heart (Esther 6:6, Isaiah 10:7)

    Ostriches are apparently entirely inattentive parents (Job 39:13-16)

    The Sun moves around the Earth (Psalms 19:4-6)

    Snails melt (Psalms 58:8)

    The Earth has four corners (Isaiah 11:12, Ezekial 7:2)

    Lots of fantastical creatures used to exist including satyrs, cockatrices, fiery flying serpents, etc (Isaiah)

    The Earth is definitively flat (Daniel 4:10-11, 20)

    The stars are tiny objects that can fall out of the sky and be stomped upon (Daniel 8:10)




    Leviticus speaks against wearing mixed fabrics, eating shellfish , touching a pig's skin/ eating pork, (weren't you into football? " SINNER ! ), Having debt, cutting your hair(your hair is super shaved you SINNER !), shaving your face (you're shaved, SINNER !), growing two crops in one field, having tattoos etc etc etc . If you're going to quote your bible, perhaps you should actually be following everything it says instead of being a hypocrite


    SLAVERY
    “As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are round about you. You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their families that are with you, who have been born in your land; and they may be your property. You may bequeath them to your sons after you, to inherit as a Possession for ever.” (Lev. 25:44–46)

    Clearly condoning slavery. Just one example of the disgusting immoralities contained in the bible.

    As the 21st century progresses, your contradictory book is a joke, please stop quoting it like it's factual when it's pure fiction. Stop using the Bible as a model for morality when it's nothing of the kind. Your little enclosed world based on an ancient book is insane and dangerous to the rest of us.

    Anyone living by that immoral book is living a wasted life.

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    Replies
    1. And what is your stance on the Koran?

      As for your Bible question, Catholics have never read the entirety of the Bible literally, but rather literarily, and there is a huge difference.

      If you really have never found a satisfactory answer to your questions about the Bible, I feel really sorry for you. If what you say above is really keeping you from the Bible, that's terrible.

      Delete
    2. Why are you asking about the Koran? Maybe if you state your stance on the Koran you'll develop more sympathy for secular humanists, just saying.

      Delete
  3. "literarily, and there is a huge difference"

    I know the words "literal" and "literary" but I've never heard of the word "literarily". Please explain what you mean ? How does reading the Bible "literarily" make all the examples I gave less immoral ?

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    Replies
    1. literarily reading the Bible means that we as Catholics are not plagued with having to think of everything in there as being literal. We recognize that while all of Scripture is inspired by God, it can be both inspired and literary and doesn't have to be literal - so when it ascribes characteristics to God or says God did this or that, we believe there is truth to be gleaned from the passage, and it is inspired, without having to think that it is always literal

      Delete
    2. That makes no logical sense and is completely suspect. Either the Bible is the Word of God or it isn't. Picking and choosing what's literal and what isn't is subject to many different interpretations, thus the 41,000 Christian religions. The Word of an all powerful God should be absolutely clear and 100% literal, not subject to interpretation at all. The Catholic hierarchy sitting around a table discussing what God means through a Holy Spirit is very sinister and not at all acceptable to a thinking person.

      The only people who can fall for such nonsense are the simple minded and uneducated....those are the people who've sustained the Church for 2000 years. The internet has changed that now and people are now , at a rapid speed , educating themselves online. All the polls showing the decline of religions, including Catholicism, reflect this fact. Vocations are dwindling. Priests need to minister to more than one parish now. Sisters and nuns will eventually be close to extinct.

      We no longer get our information exclusively from a priest or minister on Sunday morning . In 2015, it's a lot more difficult to pull the wool over our eyes. Superstition just can't hold up anymore.

      The internet is where religions come to die.

      Delete
  4. Father,
    Thank you for highlighting the above quotes. I have not taken the time to read this document yet and this gave a me a little taste!

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