This is getting tiresome

[PadraigPearce]

Does anyone else get sick of having to refute the same lies about our religion all the time? I went at it today over coffee break with four atheists, and they brought up the same old garbage that’s been rehashed a thousand times. You’ve heard them all; Hitler was a devout Catholic, the Pope was a Nazi, the Church is currently murdering thousands of people in Africa because they won’t promote condoms, the Catholic Church promoted slavery, Pope Pius XII was a nazi sympathizer, Mother Theresa was evil and profited off of people’s suffering. There were more but I can’t remember them all.
The ones about Mother Theresa were surprising to me, because I’ve always thought she was universally revered.
Does anyone else get tired of having to go over the same things with people over and over again? It’s like people just enjoy being misinformed about Catholicism. I guess the pope was right when he said there’s always one group that it’s okay to despise. Right now that hapens to be Christians, and Catholics in particular.

 

[Scoobyshme]

Keep in mind that our battle isn’t with other humans, but against principalities and powers. Satan never sleeps and he’s quite willing to use ignorance and fear to promote his cause. Through original sin, we are afflicted with darkness of intellect and weakness of will.

That said, I also believe that this athiesm is a result of our educational system in this country, at least the humanities, which have been taken over by socialists/Communists, who cleverly promote athiesm. Same goes for the national media (NBC, ABC, CBS, Hollywood, etc.).

 

[FiberZilla]

Does anyone else get sick of having to refute the same lies about our religion all the time? I went at it today over coffee break with four atheists, and they brought up the same old garbage that’s been rehashed a thousand times. You’ve heard them all; Hitler was a devout Catholic, the Pope was a Nazi, the Church is currently murdering thousands of people in Africa because they won’t promote condoms, the Catholic Church promoted slavery, Pope Pius XII was a nazi sympathizer, Mother Theresa was evil and profited off of people’s suffering. There were more but I can’t remember them all.
The ones about Mother Theresa were surprising to me, because I’ve always thought she was universally revered.
Does anyone else get tired of having to go over the same things with people over and over again? It’s like people just enjoy being misinformed about Catholicism. I guess the pope was right when he said there’s always one group that it’s okay to despise. Right now that hapens to be Christians, and Catholics in particular.

All good lies have at least some basis in truth, even if a couple of steps removed. Germany was a Catholic nation but Hitler was more of a secular leader… much like Saddam Hussein was the secular leader of a primarily muslim nation. Hitler was certainly not a “devout” catholic if he was catholic at all.

The whole Mother Theresa thing may have arisen from reports that a massive amount of money that was taken in by her cannot be accounted for. She obviously was not spending it on herself but some have suggested that she viewed the suffering of the poor as being of high value to the salvation of their souls. The money may have been donated elsewhere… turned over to the church… who knows?

If anyone has the scoop on Mother Theresa’s money this might be a good place to put that rumor to rest.

 

[PadraigPearce]

The frustrating thing, though, is a lot of people don’t really care about the truth. At least one of the people I was arguing with was willing to listen to my responses and use logic to argue, but the rest didn’t seem to care about the answers. They just seemed to want to take shots at the Church and then retreat to a safe distance. That’s actually how the argument started, a bunch of people in the break room started saying nasty things about the pope, and when I started defending him, they went off on me. It was weird how they were so satisfied in their prejudice.

 

[fabricdragon]

it is what people hear, over and over.
they hear it from their churches, they hear it from the internet, the schools, the papers… oh maybe not ALL of it, but a lot.
in school i recall that “Bloody Mary” was discussed as a religious bigot, who slaughtered people and tried to kill her sister, but Elizabeth was an “enlightened” ruler who was a moderate… not one mention of how being a priest meant death.

its almost literally a case of “Forgive them father, they know not what they do”

and i know
i was one
i was raised Episcopal, and like most PKs i left the church trying to find “something”
i went through a lot of religious beliefs and studies… and you know… Catholics were pretty universally the bad guys. they killed everyone they disagreed with and taught the world was flat!

i am still trying to get a better education on the Catholic side of most of the history i was taught.

get a list of good history books
(how about lies my teacher told me, for starters. not catholic at ALL, but it helps knock some of the “it was in a textbook so its true” loose)
tell people to go read those before they keep yelling at you.
tell people you dont really want to discuss it, since they have their minds made up… and stick to it.

and dont be too horribly surprised if the MOST vehemently hateful and angry people… are angry because they are attracted to religion, and dont want to be.

i was a dmn nasty anti Christian for a while…it took a lot of Rosaries to get me this far, and i have further to go.

 

[fabricdragon]

All good lies have at least some basis in truth, even if a couple of steps removed. Germany was a Catholic nation but Hitler was more of a secular leader… much like Saddam Hussein was the secular leader of a primarily muslim nation. Hitler was certainly not a “devout” catholic if he was catholic at all.

The whole Mother Theresa thing may have arisen from reports that a massive amount of money that was taken in by her cannot be accounted for. She obviously was not spending it on herself but some have suggested that she viewed the suffering of the poor as being of high value to the salvation of their souls. The money may have been donated elsewhere… turned over to the church… who knows?

If anyone has the scoop on Mother Theresa’s money this might be a good place to put that rumor to rest.

Hitler started out thinking the church could be won to “his side” when they didnt co operate? all his “one big happy religious fellowship” evaporated… and he banned the “jewish” religious practices as fast as he could.
like many people he was happy to pretend to something to get support.

as far as i know, the reaosn most of the money she took in isnt accounted for, is the fact that they tended to hand out money, pay for things, buy building supplies, (and yes, pay bribes so they could keep working) in cash, without writing it down.

one of my friend’s friends worked with some of her sisters here in the USA and said when they first arrived they just took cash donations, and used them to buy building supplies… because thats what they did back in India. records? banks? the money was HERE, the need was HERE…
i expect most of the so called missing money was simply spent without documentation.

and one may feel that suffering and poverty are good for your soul… without failing to feed or clothe or comfort the poor. most of the saints have said suffereing is a good thing, it is how our souls are purified! but still they gave generously to alleviate suffering.

 

[redhen]

it is what people hear, over and over.
they hear it from their churches, they hear it from the internet, the schools, the papers… oh maybe not ALL of it, but a lot.
in school i recall that “Bloody Mary” was discussed as a religious bigot, who slaughtered people and tried to kill her sister, but Elizabeth was an “enlightened” ruler who was a moderate… not one mention of how being a priest meant death.

Yup, I bet many atheists don’t know that at the height of Elizabethan/Shakespearean culture in England, it was a capital offense to be a Catholic priest.

youtube.com/watch?v=KG0d9jE_7iw&feature=player_embedded

 

[AmbroseSJ]

PadraigPearce:

I guess the pope was right when he said there’s always one group that it’s okay to despise. Right now that hapens to be Christians, and Catholics in particular.

This is actually a mark of the Catholic Church. The Church has been despised and calumniated since Apostolic times. This never changes, and Jesus said this would ever be so. Rejoice, it proves you are in the One Holy Apostolic and Catholic Church. If any of the early Church Fathers, Saint and Martyrs were alive today, they would be able to identify our modern Catholic Church by that one hallmark alone.

 

[steve_b]

Does anyone else get sick of having to refute the same lies about our religion all the time? I went at it today over coffee break with four atheists, and they brought up the same old garbage that’s been rehashed a thousand times. You’ve heard them all; Hitler was a devout Catholic, the Pope was a Nazi, the Church is currently murdering thousands of people in Africa because they won’t promote condoms, the Catholic Church promoted slavery, Pope Pius XII was a nazi sympathizer, Mother Theresa was evil and profited off of people’s suffering. There were more but I can’t remember them all.
The ones about Mother Theresa were surprising to me, because I’ve always thought she was universally revered.
Does anyone else get tired of having to go over the same things with people over and over again? It’s like people just enjoy being misinformed about Catholicism. I guess the pope was right when he said there’s always one group that it’s okay to despise. Right now that hapens to be Christians, and Catholics in particular.

It’s a test. Imagine how frustrated Jesus was with the people He had to confront everyday.

 

[fisherman_carl]

I sometimes get tired of hearing the same arguments on the same issues. Or I get tired of thinking about these same issues. For me, that is when it is best not to think of them anymore but to go to Jesus in prayer.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and
you will find rest for your selves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” - Mt 11:28-30

 

[imkingdad]

Does anyone else get sick of having to refute the same lies about our religion all the time? I went at it today over coffee break with four atheists, and they brought up the same old garbage that’s been rehashed a thousand times. You’ve heard them all; Hitler was a devout Catholic, the Pope was a Nazi, the Church is currently murdering thousands of people in Africa because they won’t promote condoms, the Catholic Church promoted slavery, Pope Pius XII was a nazi sympathizer, Mother Theresa was evil and profited off of people’s suffering. There were more but I can’t remember them all.
The ones about Mother Theresa were surprising to me, because I’ve always thought she was universally revered.
Does anyone else get tired of having to go over the same things with people over and over again? It’s like people just enjoy being misinformed about Catholicism. I guess the pope was right when he said there’s always one group that it’s okay to despise. Right now that hapens to be Christians, and Catholics in particular.

---

I agree, I too get tired for hearing the various canards bandied about by vile, hate filled anti-catholic bigots. These are just mean spirited people who need to diminish others so that they can stand tall on their corpses. People that need to justify their sin-filled lives. Their intentional ignorance.

Occasionally you will hear a misstatement from a person honesty engaging in civil discourse trying to learn & understand just what the Truth is. ( not the type you referenced above) then you can & should help them overcome their ignorance.

Don’t let it get you down. Remember Jesus said we’d be reviled & persecuted in His Name. In the 1st case just shake the dust from your shoes & leave them in the same state as you found them. In the 2nd case you help, your seed planting, tending, etc. will bear fruit.

I hope this helps. Please have a Very Merry Christmas too.

 

[Church_Militant]

Remember that the church has always been under attack. Nothing has changed really…same old same old. The early church suffered way worse than what we catch today and they hung in there so I figure we’re in the best of company.

 

[06convert]

I just let people talk. “Turn the other cheek” right?

Hitler was a devout Catholic

The Pope was a Nazi What a terrible Nazi he would have been. All 14 year old German boys were required to join the Hitler Youth organization. He was unwillin and refused to attend meetings. His father was very opposed to Nazism becaues he thought it interfered with Catholic teaching.

The Church is currently murdering thousands of people in Africa because they won’t promote condoms

People are killing themselves because of their inability to control their sexual desires. I’m pretty sure that the Church doesn’t control the worlds supply of condoms and are withholding them from the world. There are plenty of people outside of Africa that aren’t dying from STDs and the Church doesn’t give them condoms.

The Catholic Church promoted slavery

If you’re talking about slavery being promoted when slavery was actually a choice by people who couldn’t fend for themselves or their family and salvery was their only option. A time when people chose slavery because at least their owners would give them shelter and food. A time when doctors and lawyers were slaves because they needed a way to survive and slavery was a social status. What was wrong with that? That was the way it was a long time ago, it’s the way the world was… Enslaving someone, or makeing people slaves based on their race has never been condoned by the beliefs of the true Church.

Pope Pius XII was a nazi sympathizer

Nope. He denounced Nazism several times. He did pass on a few opportunies to speak out against it in public, but that is hardly sympathizing.

Mother Theresa was evil and profited off of people’s suffering.

Umm. . First I’ve heard of this one. I’ll need some proof.

 

[Roger_Wissinger]

Yes, I’m tired of it. I’ve decided not to waste my energy or time. I remember what Father Corapi said about converting someone, He can’t do it. Only the Holy Sprit can convert someone’s heart towards Christ and his Church.

 

[jimg521]

I’m so grateful for this post and thread. I do get tired of some of it, but defending the Church is a favorite hobby. I usually find a lot of humor in it, even some of “the old standards” as far as arguments go. My favorite is when someone refers to “Mary worshippers” and in the same conversation claims we oppress women.

The thing I get tired of, and tend to ignore out of laziness is trying to talk to someone who simply lumps the whole Church into “those child molesters”, as though no one from any other group has committed this vile crime, and as though it is in the Catechism that we must.

Teachers seduce their students frequently, there’s a new claim every day, but yet people love schools and send their kids. I realize our priests, religious, and even we lay people are held to a higher standard, but it’s ridiculous.

You can’t have a conversation with some people, so that’s where that much appreciated Fr. Corapi quote above comes in most handy for me.

 

[Sean_Boyle]

The frustrating thing, though, is a lot of people don’t really care about the truth. At least one of the people I was arguing with was willing to listen to my responses and use logic to argue, but the rest didn’t seem to care about the answers. They just seemed to want to take shots at the Church and then retreat to a safe distance. That’s actually how the argument started, a bunch of people in the break room started saying nasty things about the pope, and when I started defending him, they went off on me. It was weird how they were so satisfied in their prejudice.

Remember the poem 'The Rebel" from your namesake…

"A terrible beauty is born… " Fight on brother, your fighting the good fight, your part of the church militant. It does get tiring from time to time. Engage in the struggle, if there is just one chance that God will work thru you to reach just one person.

 

[PadraigPearce]

Remember the poem 'The Rebel" from your namesake…

"A terrible beauty is born… " Fight on brother, your fighting the good fight, your part of the church militant. It does get tiring from time to time. Engage in the struggle, if there is just one chance that God will work thru you to reach just one person.

Thanks for reminding me of that poem. I’ll try to keep that perspective and keep the fight up.