Pope links atheism, environmental destruction, urges world leaders to act

[craigerNY]

Pope links atheism, environmental destruction, urges world leaders to act

Man this guy has an out for everything doesn't he? Environmental damage can't possibly be a collective thing could it? No, it's the Atheist's fault....

In his Wednesday general audience, Pope Benedict, linking atheism and secularism with environmental destruction, summarized his new encyclical’s teaching on man’s duties towards the environment

 

[interpreter]

The pope should also urge all Christians to repent of their part of causing global warming.

 

[wiggsfly]

That's a disappointing, although unsurprising stance by a Pope who seems to want to reverse all the good hist predecessor did.

 

[Tenka]

Meh, as long as he's pushing for more responsibility towards the environment I suppose he is doing some good.

As a rule, Christians believe every bad thing is caused by people ignoring god.

 

[TerranceL]

Silly primitive.

 

[JustMeSee]

Pope links atheism, environmental destruction, urges world leaders to act

Man this guy has an out for everything doesn't he? Environmental damage can't possibly be a collective thing could it? No, it's the Atheist's fault....

I suppose that, if everyone lived a good Catholic life, environmental destruction by humans would come to a screeching halt.

I would love to read the detailed information that brought Him to this conclusion.

 

[fated]

He's teaching some philosophy here, I can't expect everyone to gather what he's trying to say.

A short explanation would be like... demanding that philosophers of atheism take up an assumption of personal and group accountability, similar to, in many ways, belief in God, so as to avoid the philosophical errors that he's pointing to here, which, he does not point directly at atheists, but rather, what I originally thought was intended was, secular tyranny, which is like atheist philosophy (relativism where ever desired, one could say...).

Anyway, I might be willing to explain further if you're interested.

 

[rambot]

As a rule, Christians believe every bad thing is caused by people ignoring god.

hmm... I'm gonna have to take exception to this.

A short explanation would be like... demanding that philosophers of atheism take up an assumption of personal and group accountability, similar to, in many ways, belief in God, so as to avoid the philosophical errors that he's pointing to here, which, he does not point directly at atheists, but rather, what I originally thought was intended was, secular tyranny, which is like atheist philosophy (relativism where ever desired, one could say...).

More periods; less commas please. I would have liked to understand that.

 

[wpiman2]

One word.... infallibility.........

 

[exotic walrus]

Remember that time when that guy did that thing...

...and by 'that time' I mean the 1980s... and by 'that guy' I mean Cardinal Ratzinger... and by 'that thing' I mean helping to slaughter Latin American children by being the Vatican's enforcer of anti-liberation theology.

 

[TemperateSeaIsland]

I take it that he's changing his stance on contraception and encouraging Catholics to have smaller families to help reduce their environmental impact.

 

[Tenka]

hmm... I'm gonna have to take exception to this.

Why is that?
I'm not trying to attack anyone I'm just saying that the pope's position is hardly groundbreaking. Bad things are generally sins and sin is ignoring god, right?

 

[Rotator]

One word.... infallibility.........

Which has absolutely nothing to do with this. I hate to break it to you, but the pope is not infallible every time he makes a statement. Even strict Catholics know that.

 

[rambot]

Why is that?
I'm not trying to attack anyone I'm just saying that the pope's position is hardly groundbreaking. Bad things are generally sins and sin is ignoring god, right?

I'm a Christian and I don't think bad things are caused by people ignoring God. I think they're caused by people making stupid/bad choices, but that doesn't mean they're ignoring God. Some Christians make stupid/bad choices thinking that they're upholding God's will.
As for your definition of sin, I'd say it's a bit to vague.

This is the first thing I've ever read from you that I disagree with...and it's more a side issue.

Personally, I find it just plain silly that the pope is trying to distance christian responsibility from GW.

 

[fated]

Why make up a bunch of stuff and misinterpret Church doctrine on this? Oh, it's because the Pope made a point that one philosophy must have a basis that includes role modeling... which reminds me of why its important not to blame poor people and children for the current problem, or try and believe that overpopulation give us the authority to kill or sterilize innocent people with chemicals. It's pretty pompous to live in the US and blame world population for the problems of global warming when sucking down the resources of a dozen or so people from the developing world.

And then, even some to center their argument on economics, but fail to acknowledge that without some population growth the economy is going to seriously suffer. Why the problem with Medicare? Social Security? That's right, you see a failure to at least replace to be partially to blame.

So, it would seem like in order to make any arguement stick to the Pope, you'd need to embrace self-denial. He's standing there talking about how Africans will suffer most because of Westerners sucking down resources, and you say that they need to be sterilized and their unborn killed? Oh ya, that makes sense because you're rich and powerful.

That's your egotism speaking.

 

[fated]

I could put it another way. Suppose I have a large family and a meager lifestyle. We put in hours working like other folks. As we have more children, our per capita consumption goes down. Each of these children and their parents are people. These small consumers, by some threads of logic, would have more of a right to exist than those rich super consumers who often criticize them. Thus, I could interpret some lines of thought in this thread to indicate that it is the rich that need to be aborted. This is typically call a revolution.

 

[Tenka]

I'm probably just being too vague and/or generalizing too much, but that basically is how it seems to go.

 

[Gilbert Funk]

The pope should also urge all Christians to repent of their part of causing global warming.

The only one to blame for global warming is God. Good luck taking that complaint to the counter.

 

[rambot]

I'm probably just being too vague and/or generalizing too much, but that basically is how it seems to go.

I can't disagree that that is how it seems to go. I can only encourage you to hope (and dare I say accept) that blowhard Christians who say shocking things are more likely to get attention than folk like me.

 

[peadar1987]

Wow! And I thought I was actually going to help the situation by becoming a engineer in sustainable energy. Guess I'd better drop out of college and truck on down to the nearest seminary!