About an Atheistic Sister with many Questions and much Church History

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Atheist here. I think you should encourage any Atheist to do their research before engaging in debate with Catholics. there is nothing more likely to close the mind of a theist to other views than false claims or claims based on a ‘straw man’. A good example of a ‘straw man’ is the view that the Church should be perfect, it’s not, therefore it is wrong about the existence of God. Well, the Church never said it would be perfect, or even always good. It claims to teach truth. So if an Atheist is going to argue, it’s best to argue on what the Church actually says rather than something it doesn’t. As for penguins, well, yes, sex between members of the same sex is widespread in species. It’s especially popular among Bonobos, the closest living relations of people. But so is infanticide, killings motivated by rage, theft, greed and forced heterosexual sex. the Church has no trouble dealing with any of this. It’s not what i means by ‘natural’. It’s annoying that it uses that word in that way, but it uses in in a special sense when it is talking about ‘natural law’.
 
Dogs eat their own feces - why can’t humans?

I don’t think having an argument with your sister will help her much. Instead, you should invite friends over who can put a “good face” on Christianity… and maybe she will listen more eventually to one of them (you, as a family member, are unlikely to have much positive influence in these things - it’s just how it is).
 
Some advice: Learn your faith. (In a healthy non obsessive way)
Read the bible/Catechism. (It can be down to 5 or 3 chapters a day of the bible for example)

Use catholic answers to study apologetics in the the areas you think you should learn (Your weakest areas/Atheism and the ones she will bring up against you such as homosexuality.)

Pray for her and for your family. For your mom’s faith too.

Ask others to pray for her and yourself and family with this site and using https://clicktopray.org/ and other Catholic sites you can request prayer.

Gather some saints to ask to pray for her. Examples: St Monica and her son St Augustine. St Edith Stein/ Apostle Paul.

Your sis might not want any answers right now. Keep that in mind if she brings up these questions again.

Pray about answering her.
 
I suggest you book A History of Church by August Franzen. It is reliable source on history from beginning of the Church to the middle years of 20th century. This book is used on Faculty of Catholic Theology as one of main sources on Church’s history.
But it isn’t complicated nor it is very big so it can be very helpful to read it and try to give her some answers if she even want to hear them. I see now that she actually just wants to provoke you or make you confused.

Her arguments are something I’ve heard many times from some “hippie” friends and I think that best thing is to love her and pray to God to give her grace of conversion of heart.
 
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StudentMI said:
They didn’t go around killing people for having same sex attraction. But the identity of being ‘gay’ is more modern. There have probably always been people with exclusive same sex attraction, of course. The Church did condone the execution of those guilty of sodomy, though, yes.
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While this is all technically true, whether the noose is attributed to the attraction or the act is a distinction without a difference to the person being killed.
 
StudentMI said:
So now the death penalty is and always was murder?
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When did I say that? Of course, as Catholics we condemn the death penalty. But I do believe that killing someone merely for being gay is murder, and always has been.
 
I’ll lay my cards on the table. I do not condemn the death penalty in toto. Killing someone for having same sex attraction would indeed be murder.
 
StudentMI said:
I’ll lay my cards on the table. I do not condemn the death penalty in toto. Killing someone for having same sex attraction would indeed be murder.
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While I would disagree on the death penalty in toto, that is a reasonable position.
 
To jellyfish,
At least your sister is opening a conversation with you. Although she doesn’t seem to be listening, it may be helping her in some way to “vent” this stuff to you, and to see that you don’t crumple and say “you’re right - any church is bad!”.
If she sees that there are actual thoughtful answers to her objections, it may help her, even though it probably won’t be overnight.
 
It seems like your sister isn’t really interested in what you have to say and more interested in pushing her own views on you.

Sorry to say this but you’re better off just ignoring her. Focus on your own faith development.

She claims to be an atheist but for me, as a former atheist, she doesn’t seem to be a true atheist. She just seems confused and for some reason wants to stay confused. She also has no true understanding of science or philosophy.
 
First off, Jesus said he would send the Holy Spirit to guide his church, so it would not fall into error over matters of doctrine, not that all Catholics/Christians would all be perfect little angels who would never do wrong. Adolf Hitler was baptized Catholic and look how that turned out, he even hated the Catholic church, there have been some real scoundrels as Popes, but the doctrine has always been preserved under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. No offense but you don’t sound like you know much about your Catholic faith neither, so probably debating your sister is not a good idea as you may just end up making things worse for her and possibly yourself as you don’t understand enough to refute her claims. If she’s genuine about asking questions tell her to talk to a priest, if she’s against anything that could help her unbelief then the best thing for you is to keep praying for her and not get drawn into endless debates.
 
Jellyfish said:
Even though she didn’t wait for my answers, and was disinterested in them.
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She is sowing seeds of doubt in your mind. It’s a method of attack.

When we read the parable of the little boy who gave Christ the few loaves and fish, and He fed the 5,000, (not counting the women and children) this is our story. Before covid 19, Catholics around the world did a morning offering every day, and then brought the offering of their life to the altar at Mass. All our joys, sorrows and sufferings, united with Christ for the salvation of the world. This is how we impact the world for good. That parable was written for us, to encourage and strengthen us.

Disturbing your rosary with your mother? Insist she be kind, respectful, and leave the room if she does not wish to join. The opium of the atheist is to mock and ridicule believers. It gives them unholy pleasure.
 
PennyinCanada said:
The opium of the atheist is to mock and ridicule believers. It gives them unholy pleasure.
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It goes both ways. Believers can mock atheists too.

As an atheist I never mocked believers. I simply didn’t agree with them but I treated everyone respectfully.
 
CRM_Brother said:
In humans, homosexuality has been traced to psychological development in childhood. There are many factors, but even once it has taken hold, it is usually transient. Psychologists have examined this issue by addressing the psychological developmental issues through therapy and then evaluated their homosexuality once the sessions have ended. 85% of initially homosexual men and 60% of initially homosexual women identified as heterosexual after this course of therapy.
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[Citation Needed]

For this entire section, not just the percentages because this goes against every article and paper I’ve ever seen on the topic.
 
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Jellyfish said:
But I doubt that my sister will hear me out or so. But this helps me too, so I am really thankful.
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It sounds like she simply wants to dump a lot of accusations, without backing them up or defending her own beliefs, which are not sound or defendable ideas. That is no way to discuss things.

I would set some firm ground rules, otherwise I wouldn’t talk about it with her. I would tell her, I will discuss one and only ONE issue at a time with you. And you need to defend YOUR beliefs as well.

I will pray for her. I have a lot of atheists in my family too, including my husband who lost his faith. It’s very hard, but don’t be discouraged. God is powerful!
 
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