Gee, that's swell -
Apr. 19th, 2005 02:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyburgThey decided which cardinal was going to be Pope. Good for them. I like the name Benedict - it has nice connotations that have nothing to do with the Popes who have carried the name before this fellow, within the church's history.
Past that? You got me. I didn't even know what a Pope was until my senior year in high school. It's a Catholic thing - and I'm not Catholic, and make no bones about it.
Relativism? Huh? OH.
One thing I've learned from studying comparative religion is that just about all of them believe they Have It Right And Nobody Else Does.
Just about all. And you know something? I believe them. That's one of the commonalities, after all. God has spoke to US - this is our record, and our doctrines codify what we know to be True.
Thing is, I also believe God speaks to more than one group. That's another one of the commonalities. *winks* There are just too many things alike - one to the next, to the next. We, as people, are quite, QUITE fallible. God speaks to all of us - we just don't get it all down. And when we compare notes? We only see the holes. And start shunning. What a waste of time.
And just to be snarky? Also keep in mind a Pope is responsible, in a way, for justifying ALL of the infrastructure, bureaucracy, expense, pomp, circumstance, behavior, repression, codification - all of that has to be justified. If nobody else has it right, then they, by default, aren't wrong. Oh no.
Such arrogance.
I know I might be wrong. It's the only thing I really can be certain of.
Hey - tell you what. Celebrate the election of Benedict XVI by going to the Ben & Jerry's site and vote to resurrect Holy Cannoli from the flavor graveyard. It would make me very happy.
Past that? I really miss John Paul II. I am certain that is going to deepen as time goes on.
Past that? You got me. I didn't even know what a Pope was until my senior year in high school. It's a Catholic thing - and I'm not Catholic, and make no bones about it.
Relativism? Huh? OH.
One thing I've learned from studying comparative religion is that just about all of them believe they Have It Right And Nobody Else Does.
Just about all. And you know something? I believe them. That's one of the commonalities, after all. God has spoke to US - this is our record, and our doctrines codify what we know to be True.
Thing is, I also believe God speaks to more than one group. That's another one of the commonalities. *winks* There are just too many things alike - one to the next, to the next. We, as people, are quite, QUITE fallible. God speaks to all of us - we just don't get it all down. And when we compare notes? We only see the holes. And start shunning. What a waste of time.
And just to be snarky? Also keep in mind a Pope is responsible, in a way, for justifying ALL of the infrastructure, bureaucracy, expense, pomp, circumstance, behavior, repression, codification - all of that has to be justified. If nobody else has it right, then they, by default, aren't wrong. Oh no.
Such arrogance.
I know I might be wrong. It's the only thing I really can be certain of.
Hey - tell you what. Celebrate the election of Benedict XVI by going to the Ben & Jerry's site and vote to resurrect Holy Cannoli from the flavor graveyard. It would make me very happy.
Past that? I really miss John Paul II. I am certain that is going to deepen as time goes on.
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no subject
Date: 2005-04-19 10:01 pm (UTC)Not all. Really. Not as many as you think.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-19 10:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-19 10:56 pm (UTC)They both thought they were right, so help them - and the other guy was deluded. In Stereo. Amaaaaazing.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-20 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-20 05:25 pm (UTC)Yes, you really can reduce a lot of paths down, looking at them that way.
Blindered? Hm. Only those who define their faith by exclusion need to worry about that, don't you think?
One vote..
Date: 2005-04-19 10:14 pm (UTC)Re: One vote..
Date: 2005-04-20 02:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-19 10:20 pm (UTC)It's free scoop day at Ben and Jerry's. I think I'll go get one, and submit a comment card or something.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-19 10:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-19 10:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-19 10:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-19 11:01 pm (UTC)I'd have to disagree based on commentary I've heard of NPR that sounds more or less correct, at least going on 20-year old half remembered european history: the first Benedict was a Pope when the Roman Empire fell, and somehow managed to keep Rome and surrounding stable enough so to begin a socio-political process that culminated in a papal state that itself became a symbol of stability throughout the middle ages.
If anything, I think, the name is a message to those in a lot of Western Nations who are taking the death of John Paul II personally, as if it's the end of an era (I'm not one of them, FYI, since I don't identify my belief system with any religion, even the one I was raised on): that there is still stability to be found within this aging and conservative church.
If you ask me, they would need the "name as message" symbol, given the beatings this organization took with both the rise of evangelism (some aspects of which, frankly, scare the hell out of me - albeit for wholly different reasons than they would a Catholic), and the NA sex scandal.
That said, yeah ... "benedict(us)" means "bearing a blessing" in Latin (also going off of memory, not having cracked a Latin dictionary for nearly 15 years), which can't be a bad thing to have following someone who was considered to be larger than life. That's always a tough job, no matter which job it is. =P
no subject
Date: 2005-04-20 05:29 pm (UTC)Ah
Date: 2005-04-20 07:04 pm (UTC)Possible message, too. The punditry wagon is still working on their verdict. ;)