Pope Francis, Catholics, and Christians in the news worldwide
Can the religious right be happy?
They don’t seem to be, even when they are getting things going their way, they seem to be unhappy. Maybe they haven’t found the joy of being a caring human. Christ alone is not going to make anyone happy. Being an atheist doesn’t make someone unhappy. People need to stop judging others based on their own beliefs and books. Period.
One of my favorite Wittgenstein aphorisms is
"Make sure that your religion is a matter between you and God only."
....which contains in itself a playful contradiction.
W also said "a serious and good philosophical work could be written that would consist only of jokes.”
So I was not surprised to learn in Steve Martin's Netflix auto/biography that he wrote his thesis for his MA in Philosophy on Wittgenstein. Just wish I could read it.
dave said:
W also said "a serious and good philosophical work could be written that would consist only of jokes.”
So I was not surprised to learn in Steve Martin's Netflix auto/biography that he wrote his thesis for his MA in Philosophy on Wittgenstein. Just wish I could read it.
You can read this instead. It’s funny, too.
DaveSchmidt said:
Can the Left Be Happy? (NYT)
This seems like where a good portion of the American left finds itself today: comforted by neither God nor history, and hoping vaguely that therapy can take their place.I’m pretty sure religious believers and Marxists take advantage of therapy when they need it, too.
(Spoiler alert: The answer to the headline question is yes.)
One may well ask Douthat, in return, if it is possible for the Right to be happy, given that theologically conservative Christianity says that the world is fallen and can never be redeemed by human effort.
Perhaps he might respond that this is the appeal of Trumpism -- a conservative movement that dumps all the troubling aspects of traditional religion and offers up in its place the promise of glory and vengeance in this world.
Here's David French, who I find an interesting voice on the intersection of religious conservatives and Trumpism:
DaveSchmidt said:
dave said:
W also said "a serious and good philosophical work could be written that would consist only of jokes.”
So I was not surprised to learn in Steve Martin's Netflix auto/biography that he wrote his thesis for his MA in Philosophy on Wittgenstein. Just wish I could read it.
You can read this instead. It’s funny, too.
"There's only one thing to do after studying philosophy," Wittgenstein admonishes. "Put a fake arrow through your head and play banjo."
—Philosophical Investigations
The coming eclipse today explained from a historical perspective — fascinating …
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257304/a-total-solar-eclipse-through-a-lens-of-faith
mtierney said:
all on the same planet — for a day!
Not everyone.
Marjorie Taylor Greene stands by her belief that earthquakes, eclipses are God’s call to repent
Seriously, the time and location of an eclipse is calculated centuries in advance, and saying that the eclipse today was specifically directed to some individual whom Rep. Greene thinks should "repent" is just "social media conspiracy" nonsense.
Jaytee said:
MTG has the scientific intelligence of a medieval peasant.
You are insulting medieval peasants.
Many mentions of solar or lunar (red moon) eclipses are mentioned in the books of the bible and crazy things are supposed to happen after them. None of that crazy stuff seems to happen.
dave said:
Many mentions of solar or lunar (red moon) eclipses are mentioned in the books of the bible and crazy things are supposed to happen after them. None of that crazy stuff seems to happen.
"“But of that day and hour no one knows ..." Matthew 24:36
Meanwhile, Pope Francis reflects on the sanctity of life in a document five plus years in the making.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/08/world/europe/vatican-sex-change-surrogacy-dignity.html
My husband and I adopted three children as infants decades ago when medical fertility interventions were extremely limited and surrogacy not an option — or even discussed — at least in our income bracket back in the day. Giving unwanted babies a home and family was our choice — God surprised us when, exactly one year after our third adoption, we had a child the old-fashioned way!
I really hadn’t given surrogacy much thought until I learned about rent-a-womb options for the wealthy or well-connected. IVF options now reveal the tragic outcomes for the unused or unwanted fertilized “eggs” who may wind up in a trash bin, discarded due to relationship breakups, divorce, etc.
There appears to be an intoxicating need to change what God has designed into a man-made replica of a happy human being. Our young people must not wind up in a trash bin of medical mistakes. The tide of public awareness is already in the offing.
dave said:
You are insulting medieval peasants.
You’re probably right, I should have known better.
mtierney said:
Meanwhile, Pope Francis reflects on the sanctity of life in a document five plus years in the making.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/08/world/europe/vatican-sex-change-surrogacy-dignity.html
My husband and I adopted three children as infants decades ago when medical fertility interventions were extremely limited and surrogacy not an option — or even discussed — at least in our income bracket back in the day. Giving unwanted babies a home and family was our choice — God surprised us when, exactly one year after our third adoption, we had a child the old-fashioned way!
I really hadn’t given surrogacy much thought until I learned about rent-a-womb options for the wealthy or well-connected. IVF options now reveal the tragic outcomes for the unused or unwanted fertilized “eggs” who may wind up in a trash bin, discarded due to relationship breakups, divorce, etc.
There appears to be an intoxicating need to change what God has designed into a man-made replica of a happy human being. Our young people must not wind up in a trash bin of medical mistakes. The tide of public awareness is already in the offing.
Link to the actual document, not just a news article highlighting one aspect of it:
Part of thoughtfully engaging with religion is thinking through what you agree with, what you don't, and why. I fundamentally disagree with the way the Catholic Church officially views sex and gender, and if there were any appetite for it here I'd be happy to talk about that.
I'd like to hear from mtierney why she disagrees with the Church's official views on poverty and migrants. For instance, passages such as these cut quite clearly against the sort of thing she regularly posts here:
Migrants are among the first victims of multiple forms of poverty. Not only is their dignity denied in their home countries, but also their lives are put at risk because they no longer have the means to start a family, to work, or to feed themselves. Once they have arrived in countries that should be able to accept them, “migrants are not seen as entitled like others to participate in the life of society, and it is forgotten that they possess the same intrinsic dignity as any person. […] No one will ever openly deny that they are human beings; yet in practice, by our decisions and the way we treat them, we can show that we consider them less worthy, less important, less human.” Therefore, it is urgent to remember that “every migrant is a human person who, as such, possesses fundamental, inalienable rights that must be respected by everyone and in every circumstance.” Receiving migrants is an important and meaningful way of defending “the inalienable dignity of each human person regardless of origin, race or religion.”
Despite my appetite for hearing her explanation for her rejection of these portions of the document, though, I suspect I'll go hungry.
nohero said:
dave said:
Many mentions of solar or lunar (red moon) eclipses are mentioned in the books of the bible and crazy things are supposed to happen after them. None of that crazy stuff seems to happen.
"“But of that day and hour no one knows ..." Matthew 24:36[*]
Trying to get that to accord with Mark 13:32 is also a stretch seeing that most scribes tended toward favoring Mark (Mark, so to speak, getting more "likes"). Quite a blow to Matthew, I'd think, who was the original influencer.
Mark 13:32 “But as for that day or hour no one knows it—neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son—except the Father." *
So it's not that "no one knows". It's that God doesn't chat with "his" son (sorry, Joseph) despite in other places appearing to give great details to Jesus about other things, which J passes on to his apostles.
Then there's the historian of Antioch Luke's 12:35-40 with its synoptic parallel with the other two gospels: some text equating staying up late and guarding your home against a thief with waiting for the second coming. Just be really chill about it, kick back, lounge on a table late into the night and into the dawn. Cause you never know....*
*No note of eclipse.
dave said:
Then there's the historian of Antioch Luke's 12:35-40 with its synoptic parallel with the other two gospels: some text equating staying up late and guarding your home against a thief with waiting for the second coming. Just be really chill about it, kick back, lounge on a table late into the night and into the dawn. Cause you never know....*
"stay woke"
PVW said:
Despite my appetite for hearing her explanation for her rejection of these portions of the document, though, I suspect I'll go hungry.
Where is it written that I possess a solution to a migration of people, from various and disparate regions of the globe, to our shores without following our government’s rules? Ask Mayorkas before he gets a long-overdue removal from office.
With USA leadership, many victims of famine might have avoided paying human trafficking “mules” and risking death and deprivation to come to America. How much fentanyl entered our country by duplicitous use of human suffering as a cover? Think about the global slave trafficking of unaccompanied minor children, now lost and unknown in our cities. America represents hope, opportunity and freedom to many people across the globe, but America must have leadership to embrace them.
Those migrants from South America, China, Russia, etc, which have become the most numerous and visible over the last few months, who come for economic reasons rather than survival from political forces and starvation (the main concern in the papal message) should be taught early on that freedom is maintained by rules and regulations to be respected — not ignored.
The illegal immigrants now in our cities are being abused by overwhelmed mayors who have made their plight a political football and turned schools, streets and any available space into tent cities. Their suffering continues in the “promised land.”
from PVW’s post…
“No one will ever openly deny that they are human beings; yet in practice, by our decisions and the way we treat them, we can show that we consider them less worthy, less important, less human.” Therefore, it is urgent to remember that “every migrant is a human person who, as such, possesses fundamental, inalienable rights that must be respected by everyone and in every circumstance.” Receiving migrants is an important and meaningful way of defending “the inalienable dignity of each human person regardless of origin, race or religion.”
For I was hungry, and you fed me platitudes about freedom. I was naked, and you clothed me with scorn. I was imprisoned, and you tightened my fetters.
mtierney said:
IVF options now reveal the tragic outcomes for the unused or unwanted fertilized “eggs” who may wind up in a trash bin, discarded due to relationship breakups, divorce, etc.
As someone with a little experience in the IVF process, I have to admit this sentence really got my hackles up when I read it, and I've been thinking of an appropriate yet non-insulting response ever since. I came across this article from CBS from 2019, and beyond the general tragedy that appears in the article, there was a ray sunshine at the end of it that I'm going to quote as my response to this, because I'm all about positivity.
Frozen embryos remain viable for decades as far as anyone knows. Last year, the National Embryo Donation Center in Tennessee reported a birth using an embryo that had been frozen for 24 years.
Dr. Craig Sweet, who runs a fertility clinic in Fort Myers, Florida, supplied a Chicago woman an embryo that had been frozen for 17 years and made one request:
"When the baby is born," he said, "I want you to see if you can register the kid to vote."
ridski said:
mtierney said:
IVF options now reveal the tragic outcomes for the unused or unwanted fertilized “eggs” who may wind up in a trash bin, discarded due to relationship breakups, divorce, etc.
As someone with a little experience in the IVF process, I have to admit this sentence really got my hackles up when I read it, and I've been thinking of an appropriate yet non-insulting response ever since. I came across this article from CBS from 2019, and beyond the general tragedy that appears in the article, there was a ray sunshine at the end of it that I'm going to quote as my response to this, because I'm all about positivity.
Frozen embryos remain viable for decades as far as anyone knows. Last year, the National Embryo Donation Center in Tennessee reported a birth using an embryo that had been frozen for 24 years.
Dr. Craig Sweet, who runs a fertility clinic in Fort Myers, Florida, supplied a Chicago woman an embryo that had been frozen for 17 years and made one request:
"When the baby is born," he said, "I want you to see if you can register the kid to vote."
just a reminder of what we're talking about here
drummerboy said:
ridski said:
mtierney said:
IVF options now reveal the tragic outcomes for the unused or unwanted fertilized “eggs” who may wind up in a trash bin, discarded due to relationship breakups, divorce, etc.
As someone with a little experience in the IVF process, I have to admit this sentence really got my hackles up when I read it, and I've been thinking of an appropriate yet non-insulting response ever since. I came across this article from CBS from 2019, and beyond the general tragedy that appears in the article, there was a ray sunshine at the end of it that I'm going to quote as my response to this, because I'm all about positivity.
Frozen embryos remain viable for decades as far as anyone knows. Last year, the National Embryo Donation Center in Tennessee reported a birth using an embryo that had been frozen for 24 years.
Dr. Craig Sweet, who runs a fertility clinic in Fort Myers, Florida, supplied a Chicago woman an embryo that had been frozen for 17 years and made one request:
"When the baby is born," he said, "I want you to see if you can register the kid to vote."
just a reminder of what we're talking about here
Exactly. You're basically looking at a 6 cell zygote when it's frozen.
The first episode of Law & Order SVU should be titled "The Trouble with IVF".
dave said:
The first episode of Law & Order SVU should be titled "The Trouble with IVF".
"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" Inconceivable (TV Episode 2008) - IMDb
"A canister of frozen embryos is stolen from a fertility clinic. The SVU team race against the clock to retrieve it before the embryos are no longer suitable for implantation."
Commercial featuring nuns taking potato chips for communion sparks outrage in Italy
Jasmo said:
Commercial featuring nuns taking potato chips for communion sparks outrage in Italy
that's kinda funny
PVW said:
For I was hungry, and you fed me platitudes about freedom. I was naked, and you clothed me with scorn. I was imprisoned, and you tightened my fetters.
I don’t believe I have “fetters” in my possession but you, on the other hand, are so very Sanctimonious in speech and criticism , you could land a seat in heaven in a heart beat! We sinners, however, struggle on our path, one step at a time!
mtierney said:
We sinners, however, struggle on our path, one step at a time!
Here’s to all people who struggle on their path one step at a time.
ridski said:
As someone with a little experience in the IVF process, I have to admit this sentence really got my hackles up when I read it, and I've been thinking of an appropriate yet non-insulting response ever since. I came across this article from CBS from 2019, and beyond the general tragedy that appears in the article, there was a ray sunshine at the end of it that I'm going to quote as my response to this, because I'm all about positivity.
Frozen embryos remain viable for decades as far as anyone knows. Last year, the National Embryo Donation Center in Tennessee reported a birth using an embryo that had been frozen for 24 years.
Dr. Craig Sweet, who runs a fertility clinic in Fort Myers, Florida, supplied a Chicago woman an embryo that had been frozen for 17 years and made one request:
"When the baby is born," he said, "I want you to see if you can register the kid to vote."
Remember the old song “ I’m my own grandpa?”
Are we soon to see retired women having the children they had put on ice while climbing the corporate ladder without childcare worries?
Who gets the unwanted fertilized embryos after 17 years in the Freezer? How is the potential life taken out? Is it just flushed out of existence?
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Can the Left Be Happy? (NYT)
I’m pretty sure religious believers and Marxists take advantage of therapy when they need it, too.
(Spoiler alert: The answer to the headline question is yes.)