I think that the Roman Catholic Church has a bad rap. Every time anyone starts talking about the Roman Catholic Church they are always mention the molestation of boys and girls. Yes, they happened. Yes, it is a bad thing to have happened but a few bad apples should not condemn the entire organization. I am a Catholic, and I was raised Catholic and I am proud to be one. What I am tired of is people shitting all over the Catholic Church.*
Like I said I was born and raised Catholic. I attended Catholic school until my high school career. At the time I didn’t appreciate the teachings of a private Catholic school and as an adult I take a bit of pride to know that I went to a decent elementary school. Our class was small and we had an interesting dynamic of folks. It was an array of all colors of the rainbow. It was a good group. Although there were some people who had interesting life paths.**
I am not a practicing Catholic. I am not a fan of waking up earlier, actually that’s wrong. I do like to get up early, but I just cannot get back into the rhythm of going to church every Sunday. I really want too, but I cannot find a Catholic church that makes me feel good. I could try at my old school, but my old school is so packed with yuppies and just annoying people that the feeling that I used to feel as a kid is completely gone. I do however pray everyday, usually before I go to sleep or when I have a free moment, I usually try and pray and center myself.
For nearly 2000 years the Roman Catholic Church has been around. I know the Roman Catholic Church has a bloody history. I mean look at the Crusades. Thousands of Muslims and probably a lot of Jews were slaughtered trying to take back the so called “Holy Land”. There was also the fact that towards the end of the Roman Empire reign, they had become Catholics and dominated a lot of the so called known world. I also know about the Holy Inquisition that took place in Spain and in Europe. The Catholic church is also involved in the child molestation scandals. The religion is not perfect, but what religion is?
Catholics and early Christians were a subject of persecution as well. I mean look at very beginning of when Catholics were just starting out. They were fed to lions and made to “battle” wild animals and Gladiators. The Romans hated Catholics to no end and nearly destroyed them, thank the heavens Constantine the Great had his vision of the cross in battle and turned all of Rome Catholic. I must note that during the time of Rome, Catholics were called Christians. Although Christians and Catholics of the modern age are quite different.
The crusades were of no excuse. I think a combination of the greediness of certain popes, and countries led to the bloody wars over the Holy Land. I mean the Christians massacred a lot of Muslims, and the Christians were much more brutal and barbaric. You have to remember however that this was during the Dark Ages. Rome had fallen and Rome was the light in the insanity, without their true guidance through rule, Europe was in bad shape. The Muslims however eventually won, they have their dome of the rock over the 2nd temple of Solomon, and they control the Sceptula. I think poetic justice.
The Holy Inquisition is another crime that the Catholic Church cannot really be forgiven. However I must point out that they did end over a 150 years ago. People also blame the Church for the slaughter of the natives in the Americas. I think this is wrong. Spain and Portugal were countries that wanted to conquer the free world. They battled and eventually slaughtered the Aztecs***. The destroyed the a lot of the cultures of Central and South America, with their advanced technology and disease. They also did this in the name of the Catholic Church. I am sure that they had a bit of Church backing but what it comes down to it, Spain and Portugal wanted to own the wealth and land of the free world, so they can control the world. The Catholic Church is not free of any blame and I am not saying that they had a right but they used to Spanish to slaughter natives and keep their religion alive. It is wrong and I do not condone it, but these were people that were simple, but violent. You cannot really tell it now, but Spain is one of the most bloodthirsty countries ever to be created.
In Spain during this time the Catholic Church under Tomas De Torquemada was an evil guy. He was an anti-Semite who got off on torturing Jews, Muslims and anyone who opposed the Catholic Church. He was a sick man who often took bribes, so that certain people can be declared a heretic. There is no forgiveness for anything that took place in Spain and in Europe during these times. The really shitty thing is that this went on for fucking 500 years, until the 1840s. I never understood what the point of the Inquisition was. They tortured people for not being Catholic. To me that is odd. I guess it was a power thing and the power seduced some people who were sociopaths.
As you can read, the Catholic Church has a dark and shady history. There is also the fact that supposedly the Catholic Church made a secret deal with the Nazis. I am not sure about that. The recent child molestations is another bad blow to the Catholic Church. I mean a few priests were sick, and decided to touch a couple of young children, and yes their superiors did try and cover it up, but that should not condemn all the people who are Catholic.
The Catholic Church is like any organization that is old, it is full of sins and atrocities. Every religion has them. There are terrorists that claim they are doing the will of Allah(Muslim), there are people who blow up abortion clinics and think that “All fags go to hell”. The people that do that are Christian fundamentalists. The Catholic Church is not a cult like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, or some of new so called religions like Scientology. They are just an organization, that has had a checkered past. The message that the Catholic Church tries to spread ought to overlook all the bullshit that surrounds it.
What I also find really unfair is the fact that people can shit all over the Catholic Church and never get in trouble about it. I mean I could post a picture of Jesus Christ raping children and all that would happen is someone would laugh. If I were to post something making fun of Jews then I would be called anti-Semetic. If I were to post a picture of the prophet Mohemmed, then I would also get in trouble. I just think it's unfair. The Catholic Church is not the only organization to commit bad acts. The Germans as the Nazi's wiped out nearly all of the Jews in Poland, yet people don't hate the Germans these days. The Japanese committed mass rape and murder to the Chinese, Koreans, and Philippines yet no one hates Japan. The United States massacred a lot of Native Americans in the Indian wars. But I digress.
A wise person once told me, to act “Christ-Like”, not Christian, when it comes to acting in your day to day life and you know what? I agree.
*South Park made a good point about this. They had a 2 part episode called Cartoon Wars where in it “Family Guy” was going to show an image of the Muslim prophet Muhammed. This caused a lot of controversy, and even Comedy Central pussied out and censored the image. However at the end of the episode the Muslim terrorists shot back with a picture of Jesus Christ, and it showed the Christ being shit upon. See that is okay to show, but it’s not okay to show some Arab named Muhammed. So not fair.
**From my count we had 1 teenage mother come from my class, a wife beater, a few drunks, a couple of drug addicts, and the icing on the cake is someone who is a convicted felon, who may or may not have murdered his father. Such great paths forged by a Catholic education.
***A big myth is that the Aztecs were defeated solely by the Spanish, but this is not true. The Aztecs, like the Romans and the French, were a dominant force that was feared by many outside tribes. These tribes banded together and brought down the mighty Aztecs. Also if the Aztecs hadn’t been so superstitious about their beliefs and just killed and destroyed the Spanish when they first arrived, life would be different. For the first time in history a people did not want to destroy what was different, and too me that was odd.
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