The Glade 4.0

Homosexuals can get married.

It has nothing to do with "Theological Level." It's about Diamondeye's apparent belief that only a Catholic's comments about the pope have any validity and everybody else should butt out. That has no relation to theology. It's about membership in a specific religious organization, nothing more. It's a binary thing.

My statement is not false. I'm every bit as Catholic as Diamondeye is...which is to say, not-at-all.

In 9 states. Otherwise, no, they can't.

Isn't that the atheist point, that people created religion to control society? What justification do you have for assuming it wouldn't happen again through another tool?

Homosexuals can get married in all 50 states. The problem is that they don't want to.

It is the position of the Catholic Church that it holds a monopoly over morality, not just for its followers, but for all human beings, everywhere, in all the times before and for all time yet to come; that a human being can not be moral except through adherence to their rules, and that it is adherence to their rules which makes a human being moral; that it has all of the answers to all questions, from the origins of life and the universe, to the cause of disease, proper management of human relationships, and finally death and what follows; and finally, that these rules and answers have been handed down from On High by the creator of the universe, and that agents of the institution speak the will of said creator. The Catholic Church is not unique in this outlook, as that is the stated position of nearly every religion worldwide. When such a claim is made, it is the responsibility of every sane individual throughout the world to grill that organization on its failures to live up to the expectations it sets for its followers.

Specifically referenced in this thread were the issues of homosexuality and child rape. The Catholic Church has been sheltering child rapists and covering their tracks for decades that we know of, and most likely centuries that we don't. The institution shields these child rapists from the legal system. The doctrines of the church tell us that these priests, these supposedly holy men, must be forgiven as God would forgive them, or else we are unclean in His sight and that God's love, the boundless love the church preaches that God has for all living things, will be withheld. The same institution then has the audacity to tell us that a person like Talya is unclean and wicked because of who she is and who she shares her life with. The teachings of the church on this matter are repugnant and vile, existing not for the benefit of the parishioners, but to degrade them and have them happily accept that degradation while the church collects their money.

The religious objection to homosexuality is insulting to the intelligence of every human being that hears it. Arafys is right to object to it, and it doesn't matter that he isn't Catholic. The pope certainly doesn't think it matters. The pope professes to be infallible, God's instrument on Earth, and seeks to impose his will on all human beings, Catholic or otherwise.

Not really. Many atheists hold the idea that religion over the centuries has turned into something like this, but I think we can all relate to and understand why they were first created. The thought of something greater than yourself is very comforting when you're looking into the unknown and can't explain much.

If I'm in no position to say "wow," neither are you. The belief is certainly the point for you, but you cannot speak for the entirety of religious people. For some, the ritual is the point, for others the dogma, for others the history, for others the social construct. There are a lot of things that go into religion, so much so that you cannot examine the effects of the institution without disassociating it from any one particular benefit or flaw.

You can't claim religion doesn't enforce moral conduct when the ten commandments exist. You also can't claim it when the Catholic church persecutes homosexuality, and condemns abortion.

The Catholic church's view on homosexuality, in particular, is so laughably backwards that I'm surprised that you even attempt to make the point that their views are not antiquated or harmful. You can choose not to take part in some of the more radical or grisly sides of what the church does, but you cannot ignore that the church does do them.

As for the other points about believing in invisible friends and the like, most of that is just insensitive mocking, and should be taken as such. Most people have some things that cannot be proven that they believe in, from simple superstition to religion. The issue isn't necessarily that believing in something you can't prove is bad, but that there is an attempt to attach some sort of social stigma to doing so.

If a religion I was a part of was being used, either directly or indirectly, to commit unspeakable acts upon children, I would be loudly crying to condemn and castigate those who would perpetrate such things in the name of that which I believed in. The fact that the Catholic church doesn't defend its own faith in such a manner is something that strikes many, particularly non-believers, as wrong. Whether you are of the faith or not, that is a criticism that the Catholic church should not be able to ignore.

Not to mention that the cult of personality built up by Lenin and later exploited by Stalin has all of the trappings of a state religion with Lenin as the national god.

Which has all basically started within the last 40 years or so as part of the "moral majority" bullshit and was created entirely to get more power in Washington.

No, homophobia is a problem if anyone "does" it. The most noteworthy and outspoken of whom are churches.

Better yet, 100% of the men who abuse children are men, so we should outlaw men having any contact with children...

Not unkind, just ill-conceived, seeing as 3/4 of the people in the US are self-identified as Christian. Any time you want to cast aspersions on Christianity, just mention something "bad" in society and I'll bet Christians are doing it.

In 9 states. Otherwise, no, they can't.

Better yet, 100% of the men who abuse children are men, so we should outlaw men having any contact with children...

Not unkind, just ill-conceived, seeing as 3/4 of the people in the US are self-identified as Christian. Any time you want to cast aspersions on Christianity, just mention something "bad" in society and I'll bet Christians are doing it.

Yes, they can.

Are you being ignorant on purpose?

There sure is a lot of hate in this thread....

Are you that dumb? A homosexual man can get married, just like a non homosexual. Both the homosexual and the non homosexual have the same rights. They both can marry a woman. It's why I hate this "oh no, the gays don't have the same rights! wahhh!!!". Yes, they do. It's single people who are discriminated against.

Yeah, that's what I love about these arguments. "Oh those nasty Christians! So full of hate!!" I hate exactly zero homosexuals but I'm pretty sure there are at least four folks in this thread that actively hate folks of a religious flavor.

Its not "folks of a religious flavor".

Its bigots.