bigmacbear (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bigmacbear) wrote2005-08-10 05:08 pm
bigmacbear) wrote2005-08-10 05:08 pm
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Lord save us from your Church! -- today's installment
[T]oday's rigidly dogmatic Catholic Church has bred a generation of American Catholics many of whom, simply in order to be able to function in the real world, have had to learn to put oppressive theological dictates in their place – so much so that the very suggestion that their Church demands their absolute obedience (which of course it does) can be seen as "anti-Catholic"!
-- Bruce Bawer, Is America Anti-Catholic? [URL:http://www.brucebawer.com/rc.htm]
Yep, I think he's hit the nail on the head here. In a previous post I mentioned a seemingly contradictory doctrine of the Church that specifically allows for such dissent, and opined that it's essential for American Catholics to be able to do this because of the Church's disinclination to the notion of separation of church and state.
To be quite honest, the disinclination to separate church and state (or, in most cases, the inclination to force the two back together once separated) seems to be at the root of all the problems modern society has with religious fundamentalists of any persuasion, today particularly Muslim and to a lesser extent Christian. I discovered the essay quoted above after being steered to an essay dealing with fundamentalist Islam on the same site, Tolerating Intolerance: The Challenge of Fundamentalist Islam in Western Europe [URL:http://www.brucebawer.com/tolerating.htm]
Sometimes the intersection of Church and State is more than a stop light in downtown Rochester. It appears on the verge of being a threat to the Western way of life.
-- Bruce Bawer, Is America Anti-Catholic? [URL:http://www.brucebawer.com/rc.htm]
Yep, I think he's hit the nail on the head here. In a previous post I mentioned a seemingly contradictory doctrine of the Church that specifically allows for such dissent, and opined that it's essential for American Catholics to be able to do this because of the Church's disinclination to the notion of separation of church and state.
To be quite honest, the disinclination to separate church and state (or, in most cases, the inclination to force the two back together once separated) seems to be at the root of all the problems modern society has with religious fundamentalists of any persuasion, today particularly Muslim and to a lesser extent Christian. I discovered the essay quoted above after being steered to an essay dealing with fundamentalist Islam on the same site, Tolerating Intolerance: The Challenge of Fundamentalist Islam in Western Europe [URL:http://www.brucebawer.com/tolerating.htm]
Sometimes the intersection of Church and State is more than a stop light in downtown Rochester. It appears on the verge of being a threat to the Western way of life.
no subject
Anyway, I'm glad you added me. It's always fun being friended by others for whatever reason they find me interesting. :-)
I know the Anglican Communion has it's issues, especially in some sectors of the world such as Nigeria, with their trying to stave off both the Canadian and American arm of the Anglican communion for the recent decisions around gay marriage and of gay laymen in the church - especially as a Bishop of all things.
But you are right, it's not set in doctrine/dogma, but the more conservative side definatly has it's issues, which is sad and yet fine as they are excercising their mind(s).
One of my friends is