The Counsel of Niceae Was Nothing More Than A Political Agenda!

[Janet_S]

If there is one religious group in this country that has most consistently functioned as a power-hungry theocracy, it’s Mormonism (or perhaps Catholicism–I really don’t know which of the two is most characterized by this kind of behavior, but neither has a right to point fingers at others in this regard).

You must be kidding about the “Catholic Church functioning as a theocracy” if you are talking about the USA. That was a fear of the Klan and the John Birch society, but it never happened. Catholics started out in this country as poor, hungry immigrants facing discrimination, and I’m sure “establishing a theocracy” was probably the furthest thing from their minds. Things have changed over the years, and now Catholics have gained status and influence in the US. Yet Vatican II made it clear that the Church is committed to religious freedom, and Catholic clerics are forbidden to hold political office, so there’s not much danger of a Catholic theocracy here.

The Church is involved in the process of instructing the laity about the Gospel and encouraging them to get involved in the political process. That’s a far cry from being a Catholic theocracy.

 

[Contarini]

You must be kidding about the “Catholic Church functioning as a theocracy” if you are talking about the USA. That was a fear of the Klan and the John Birch society, but it never happened. Catholics started out in this country as poor, hungry immigrants facing discrimination, and I’m sure “establishing a theocracy” was probably the furthest thing from their minds. Things have changed over the years, and now Catholics have gained status and influence in the US. Yet Vatican II made it clear that the Church is committed to religious freedom, and Catholic clerics are forbidden to hold political office, so there’s not much danger of a Catholic theocracy here.

The Church is involved in the process of instructing the laity about the Gospel and encouraging them to get involved in the political process. That’s a far cry from being a Catholic theocracy.

I throw things in as afterthoughts and often regret them. I was not claiming that Catholics now (or realistically at any time, though they might once have thought it was an ideal) want to rule the country. Nor, for that matter, do Mormons. “Theocracy” was the wrong word. The point I was trying to make is that both Catholicism and Mormonism could be accused of grasping for institutional power, and both of them have in the past either controlled governments or desired to do so. I mentioned Catholicism not to bash it, but to be fair and not simply single out Mormonism.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think that religion (at least in its Christian form) and politics can be separated. While I do have concerns about some of the ways Catholicism has functioned historically, I think that the surrender to the secular state characteristic of mainstream Protestantism for the most part is a far worse error.

Edwin