I am not ready to give up.
And similarly, one does not have to “disagree 110%” to see an organization as being generally an embarrassment. I certainly agree that many of the things the League objects to are genuinely offensive. It’s just that they have a pattern of excessive, cynical, and sometimes downright irrational exploitation of the canons of political correctness in order to silence any criticism or unfavorable portrayal of Catholicism. Similar organizations speaking for other religious groups do the same thing–I don’t think the Catholic League is necessarily worse, but it happens to be the one under discussion here.
I would suggest that you have a thoroughly worldly and un-Christian understanding of what it means to “defend the faith” and to “stand up and be counted.” I do not think that we are called to defend the faith by reacting touchily to any negative comment or portrayal. We are called to defend the faith by proclaiming the truth and attacking error and evil of whatever kind. And we should be particularly sensitive to error and evil within our own ranks, and particularly tolerant of attacks that touch us personally or the group we represent. That is the Christian way of defending the Faith.
Same way I know anything about anything. By reading.
Yes. Why are they “reporting” these things? (I don’t mean that people should keep them quiet–I’m only questioning the existence of an organization devoted primarily to “reporting” such things.) To whom are they reporting them? What does this accomplish? If the purpose is to try to shut down free speech, then this is very inappropriate behavior in a democratic society. Nor does this serve the Christian Faith in my opinion. If the purpose is to make Christians angry, why? Do anger and bitterness make us holier? Institutions like the Catholic League exist solely to stir up anger and a sense of defensiveness among their constituency. This is not a good thing from the point of view either of civil society or of the Church’s mission.
You don’t seriously mean this, I presume. You are using “murder” as a metaphor. And that’s the root of the problem with the Catholic League. You can with a straight face use the metaphor of murder to describe the exercise of free speech. And of course it’s not just Catholics doing this. Everyone in our society claims the right “not to be offended.” And of course people apologize, because offense against political correctness is one of the Deadly Sins in our culture. But Christians, particularly Catholics, ought to know better. These people are not apologizing because they think they are wrong–they are apologizing because they don’t want to be seen as “intolerant.” So every time a critic of Christianity apologizes, the noose is fastened around our own necks. It makes it that much easier for secular society to silence Christians when *we *need to say things that are “intolerant.”
So stand idle? Is that the call of Jesus’ gospel? For us to take the gospel for ourselves and forget the neighboor?
The question doesn’t make any sense. What the Catholic League does is not proclaiming the Gospel at all. It’s just politically correct whining such as comes from all sorts of real or alleged victims in our culture. It’s particularly inappropriate coming from a religious group, which naturally takes definite stands and thus is a legitimate target of criticism (you cannot equate criticism of a religious institution with specific teachings on matters of public importance with prejudice against an ethnic group).
Yes, if you are talking about fundamentalist Protestants. And that’s one of the biggest moral advantages Catholics have. Why on earth you want to throw it away is beyond me.
True. Likewise, you can lose the message when you choose to shout down those opposed to you instead of dialog.
What verdicts? Were they unjust?
Very true. But there is no law against being a jerk. Do you want there to be? Or only a law against being an anti-Catholic jerk?
If you think that Christians have a mission to make sure that people can’t bash us and get away with it, then you have a view of Christianity that is diametrically opposed to mine.
So you are a member of the Catholic League?
Amen. The ends do not justify the means - the means matter if one calls him- or herself Christian.
You obviously no little to nothing about the Catholic League and it’s efforts for stamping out anti-Catholics and their blasphemies against Jesus Christ. Shame on you as a Catholic for not standing up for your own.
I doubt very seriously that the Catholic league exists to “stamp out anti-Catholics.”
As a Methodist, I don’t expect you to understand. You need to see for yourself, then comment. www.catholicleague.com
As a Methodist, I fully understand. I am bound to respect the religious rights and practices of other faiths. From The Book of Discipline
As far as the link to the Catholic League - I read it before I posted above… and I agree 100% that the civil and religious rights of Catholics ought to be protected.
Yea because common sense doesn’t say it all over the place…good grief.
