Bottom line though, I think I'm more worried what TLT looks like to outsiders now that Colin is absent. Colin gave us a respectable Catholic image.
I'd be a fake to start threads like his. "Today's saint is........"
I enjoyed Colin's threads, but I'm not overly concerned with how we look to others. As a liberal, I'm used to not always having my views respected by more conservative Christians (Although, to their credit, some conservatives do respect my liberal views, which I appreciate). And I don't really feel an overwhelming need to justify my Catholicism or the forum's Catholicism to people who aren't part of our community who are just peaking in. I mean, it's not a popularity context. There are some people who we probably can't win with no matter what we do or so say unless we start acting like the other forums, and if we wanted to act like all the other forums, we'd still be there and not here.
But, you know, just for the record, I don't think you'd be a fake to start up a thread talking about whatever Saints are on the liturgical calendar for a given day. You're a Catholic, you like Saints. As long as you're not making stuff up or acting holier than thou, why would you feel fake? You could do like a list of people who's feasts are on any given day, and if you don't know who they are or have anything really to say about them, track down Wikipedia links and just put the link next to the Saints' names and people can read the list for the day and the links and then have something to say in the thread based on that, if they don't have any pre-existing knowledge.
Not that I'm trying to push you into doing it.
I'm just saying, you know, in theory an atheist could look up names and post links, and I wouldn't think even the atheist would be fake if he just said "Hey, I'm an atheist, so I don't believe any of this, but I thought you guys would appreciate it, so here are some names and links as a public service.". And if I'd be okay with it from an atheist, I'd certainly be okay with it from you.
I guess where stuff where that can come off a bit weird is if people seem really over the top devoted and one kind of doubts that they are, or if they post links to these really conservative sites and information sources and you're like "Hey, isn't this a liberal forum?". But something like Wikipedia seems neutral enough, it's not exactly going to give you a hagiography. It might even talk about why some people don't like a Saint- which could get a discussion going.
But I guess I know what you mean. There are days were sometimes I feel like my posts might give off a vibe that I am more religious or devout than I am. Like if I'm having a tough time in life and maybe there are some interactions in real life with people that some might find unchristian on both sides, it feels odd to me to come in here and discuss some religious topic as if I'm this really holy man or something, because I know I'm not all that holy. But, you know, there's a saying that goes something like "The Church is supposed to be a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints", and that helps. Plus, I try to keep in mind that it's just a discussion forum, and that I am not actually going around claiming to be holy or a great person or whatever, I'm just claiming that I have an interest in typing about religion and having kind of a community on the Internet, and obviously I do have an interest, or I wouldn't bother.
If it came down to it, if this stuff is very literally true, I could easily see myself winding up in hell, but I try not dwell on it. I hope God is better than I fear and that he'll be more generous than I am or can even imagine him being. And, if he's not, well, you know, that's life (or the afterlife, I guess.
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