Twitter trolls target Pope Francis

  • Thread starter Thread starter thephilosopher6
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
In summary, Pope Francis offered a prayer for the conversion of terrorists and some folks responded with stuff like, “prayer is useless”, “God isn’t real”, “Religion causes terrorism”, and other unfounded conclusions stated as fact that while I disagree with, I don’t really consider “trolling”. Apparently someone thinks it is though because they reported this “news” story. And then there’s the comment sections where people go back and forth, calling each other “idiots”.
 
In summary, Pope Francis offered a prayer for the conversion of terrorists and some folks responded with stuff like, “prayer is useless”, “God isn’t real”, “Religion causes terrorism”, and other unfounded conclusions stated as fact that while I disagree with, I don’t really consider “trolling”. Apparently someone thinks it is though because they reported this “news” story. And then there’s the comment sections where people go back and forth, calling each other “idiots”.
Religion causes terrorism? Because the Reign of terror was performed by such faithful Christians. Or the Bolshevik Revolution. These are acts of terror, they were not motivated by belief in supernatural religion. Where do people get their “facts” from?
 
And people say there’s no such thing as trolls…that people want to learn…
yeah.
riiiiiiiight.
 
I don’t really see them as trolls, but people struggling with evil and why God permits such horrific things to happen and I am sure people of all faiths struggle with this. No one likes injustice or senseless deaths.
There is a famous book Why Bad Things Happen to Good People. These are not new questions.
Maybe the medication this man was on had side effects.
Maybe these people want the Pope to help them understand why so many innocent people are being slaughtered.
 
I don’t really see them as trolls, but people struggling with evil and why God permits such horrific things to happen and I am sure people of all faiths struggle with this. No one likes injustice or senseless deaths.
There is a famous book Why Bad Things Happen to Good People. These are not new questions.
Maybe the medication this man was on had side effects.
Maybe these people want the Pope to help them understand why so many innocent people are being slaughtered.
In a way I understand; one of the things someone wrote at the promenade was “Porquoi les enfants?”, and I understand it’s tough, but I feel like people are not taking the freewill aspect into consideration. My favourite theology teacher, the Peanuts Gang, taught me “it rains on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). Still, I find that much of the time, these people ARE trolls and intentionally refuse to listen to the other side. I am not saying this is the case, I cannot read minds. The problem I have is blaming religion for anything. It was not religion that killed people, it was a man’s decision. How much culpability he has for that, I leave up to God.
 
While this is “sick” all right, it’s far less “sick” than a Catholic blog I read yesterday, which actually blamed the Pope for the attacks on Nice and Paris. 😦
 
Je pleure
Moi aussi.

onepeterfive.com/angry-sick-beyond-fed/

He may have a valid point or two in there, but the following line is criminal:

Political correctness has wrought this. Progressivism, liberalism, and the irresponsible leadership of the Western world. American presidents, European prime ministers and chancellors, and yes, the pope.

What does he want Pope Francis to do? Declare the next Crusade? Dope. :mad:
 
Moi aussi.

onepeterfive.com/angry-sick-beyond-fed/

He may have a valid point or two in there, but the following line is criminal:

Political correctness has wrought this. Progressivism, liberalism, and the irresponsible leadership of the Western world. American presidents, European prime ministers and chancellors, and yes, the pope.

What does he want Pope Francis to do? Declare the next Crusade? Dope. :mad:
I don’t know. Blaming someone that had nothing to do with someone else’s actions to me, seems, well, if you’ll pardon, stupid.
 
Technically trolls give out misinformation to intentionally enflame arguments. I don’t think these people are trolls, just angry atheists with questions like everyone else.

It’s a general kickback against religion as a whole. I remember after the attacks in Paris a while back there was a big #prayforparis thing. A quote from someone there went viral that said “Please don’t pray for us, we’ve had enough religion.”

It’s a sad state of affairs when religion equals terrorism for the popular consciousness.
 
While this is “sick” all right, it’s far less “sick” than a Catholic blog I read yesterday, which actually blamed the Pope for the attacks on Nice and Paris. 😦
The comments on some right-wing sites on stories about the pope are truly frightful. Some of them come from professed Catholics. The tamest ones use the words “Marxist” and “Communist”.
 
They are for sure upset by the pope’s comment, but that is because they are frustrated at the unanswered questions they and many have about the link between God and suffering. And they do bring up valid questions that many wonder and agonize about, questions I see asked many times here on this forum, too.

Such as:
If God is all-loving and all-powerful and all-knowning, why did he stand by and watch and allow this to happen?
Why didn’t God do anything to prevent this tragedy?
Why wouldn’t God think to change hateful hearts on his own, without us having to ask him to do it?

That is basically what they are asking/saying in their tweets.

.
👍 I agree.
 
The comments on some right-wing sites on stories about the pope are truly frightful. Some of them come from professed Catholics. The tamest ones use the words “Marxist” and “Communist”.
I’ve had to stay away from such sites for the sake of my blood pressure. 😦
 
Religion causes terrorism? Because the Reign of terror was performed by such faithful Christians. Or the Bolshevik Revolution. These are acts of terror, they were not motivated by belief in supernatural religion. Where do people get their “facts” from?
For starters, from the Quran.
 
Maybe these people want the Pope to help them understand why so many innocent people are being slaughtered.
Well, if that is the issue, they have short memories. Benedict 16 tried to address part of the issue, and all hell broke loose. I suspect memories around the Vatican are a bit deeper and sharper than some of the people who think Twitter has a real purpose, other than cutesy bon mots.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top