Comments on: Benedict’s Challenging Words to Congress and the World: Aid the Poor http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/ Firedoglake weblog Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:38:46 -0600 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: regulararmyfool http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931875 regulararmyfool Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:36:16 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931875 <p>Sotomayor is the sixth catholic on the supreme court.<br /> Newt Gingrich is a slimy little weasel but he just turned catholic.</p> <p>Now when Roe vs Wade is negated by the Pope’s orders there will be singing and dancing and cheering by all of the clueless.</p> <p>But when the major religions and the clueless finally catch on that the laws are decided by the Pope and a Supreme Court that has already proved they regard the constitution as a piece of paper to be ignored at will,<br /> it isn’t going to be just the snake handlers and holy rollers who go ballistic.</p> <p>You going to see Mormons and Baptists and Seventh Day Adventist make a recap of the reformation look like a joke.</p> <p>If I were catholic, I would move to Paraguay and change my name to Bush or Cheney.</p> Sotomayor is the sixth catholic on the supreme court.
Newt Gingrich is a slimy little weasel but he just turned catholic.

Now when Roe vs Wade is negated by the Pope’s orders there will be singing and dancing and cheering by all of the clueless.

But when the major religions and the clueless finally catch on that the laws are decided by the Pope and a Supreme Court that has already proved they regard the constitution as a piece of paper to be ignored at will,
it isn’t going to be just the snake handlers and holy rollers who go ballistic.

You going to see Mormons and Baptists and Seventh Day Adventist make a recap of the reformation look like a joke.

If I were catholic, I would move to Paraguay and change my name to Bush or Cheney.

]]> By: Blub http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931874 Blub Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:29:10 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931874 <p>This is very, very interesting and ties into a debate that’s happening in the non-aligned countries (largely focused on Africa) on the ideological differences between what is sometimes referred to as the Washington Consensus versus the Beijing Consensus (both misnomers since they have little to do with either city, but rather the debate is between on two rival schools of thought: prevailing “freedom”/free market-based/private-property strategies for promoting development in poor countries advocated by the IMF/World Bank/IFC and by US politicos versus Joshua Cooper Ramos’ balanced/self-sufficiency-oriented/welfare-guided approach associated with development models used to some success in countries like Taiwan, Botswana, Sri Lanka and China). </p> <p>To put another way - its a debate between an argument that one has to use state-controlled or guided entities to reform institutions and bring people out of poverty through welfare-improvements measures before imposition of Western-style free market reforms (Ramos) and emphasis on democratization or whether one should do overnight market reforms then use trickle-down economics to improve welfare (the approach typically advocated by the US).</p> <p>This debate is a hot item right now in developing country intellectual cricles in Africa and Southeast Asia, but aside from a few articles out of Cambridge, Oxford and Imperial College in the UK, largely out of the western media. The Pope appears to have taken note of this debate and come out on the side of the Ramos model.</p> This is very, very interesting and ties into a debate that’s happening in the non-aligned countries (largely focused on Africa) on the ideological differences between what is sometimes referred to as the Washington Consensus versus the Beijing Consensus (both misnomers since they have little to do with either city, but rather the debate is between on two rival schools of thought: prevailing “freedom”/free market-based/private-property strategies for promoting development in poor countries advocated by the IMF/World Bank/IFC and by US politicos versus Joshua Cooper Ramos’ balanced/self-sufficiency-oriented/welfare-guided approach associated with development models used to some success in countries like Taiwan, Botswana, Sri Lanka and China).

To put another way – its a debate between an argument that one has to use state-controlled or guided entities to reform institutions and bring people out of poverty through welfare-improvements measures before imposition of Western-style free market reforms (Ramos) and emphasis on democratization or whether one should do overnight market reforms then use trickle-down economics to improve welfare (the approach typically advocated by the US).

This debate is a hot item right now in developing country intellectual cricles in Africa and Southeast Asia, but aside from a few articles out of Cambridge, Oxford and Imperial College in the UK, largely out of the western media. The Pope appears to have taken note of this debate and come out on the side of the Ramos model.

]]> By: WarOnWarOff http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931873 WarOnWarOff Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:28:42 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931873 <p><i>The Church’s true position is that it opposes artificial means of birth control and the destruction of human life once begun (this includes abolition of the death penalty for all practical purposes as well as opposition to abortion).</i></p> <p>As a recovering Catholic, I suppose that whole “Life” thing began sometime after the Inquistion, the burning of “heretics” and “witches,” the stoning of gays, Rome’s coddling of Nazis, etc., ad nauseam.</p> The Church’s true position is that it opposes artificial means of birth control and the destruction of human life once begun (this includes abolition of the death penalty for all practical purposes as well as opposition to abortion).

As a recovering Catholic, I suppose that whole “Life” thing began sometime after the Inquistion, the burning of “heretics” and “witches,” the stoning of gays, Rome’s coddling of Nazis, etc., ad nauseam.

]]> By: gerryphillyesq http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931870 gerryphillyesq Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:18:11 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931870 <p>Although it is slightly tangental to the topic, the myth that Catholics are opposed to family planning and limitations on family size is one that needs to be put to rest. The Church’s true position is that it opposes artificial means of birth control and the destruction of human life once begun (this includes abolition of the death penalty for all practical purposes as well as opposition to abortion). Catholic marriage preparation classes (required of all Catholics intending to be married in the church) spend a great deal of time explaining the signs of ovulation in the fertility cycle in order to be able to avoid intercourse at that time. While it requires more body awareness and some resistance to natural urges and is admittedly not foolproof, it does have the advantage of avoiding the negative side effects of artificial means.</p> Although it is slightly tangental to the topic, the myth that Catholics are opposed to family planning and limitations on family size is one that needs to be put to rest. The Church’s true position is that it opposes artificial means of birth control and the destruction of human life once begun (this includes abolition of the death penalty for all practical purposes as well as opposition to abortion). Catholic marriage preparation classes (required of all Catholics intending to be married in the church) spend a great deal of time explaining the signs of ovulation in the fertility cycle in order to be able to avoid intercourse at that time. While it requires more body awareness and some resistance to natural urges and is admittedly not foolproof, it does have the advantage of avoiding the negative side effects of artificial means.

]]> By: beth meacham http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931867 beth meacham Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:55:19 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931867 <p>Benedict has taken an interesting turn on “the right to life” issue. Early in the Encyclical, he explicitly defines the denial of health care to the poor as being equivalent to abortion and birth control.</p> <p>I wonder how our Catholic lawmakers will take that?</p> Benedict has taken an interesting turn on “the right to life” issue. Early in the Encyclical, he explicitly defines the denial of health care to the poor as being equivalent to abortion and birth control.

I wonder how our Catholic lawmakers will take that?

]]> By: Sufilizard http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931866 Sufilizard Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:53:14 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931866 <p>The bottom line is if you search through the New Testament, Jesus mostly talks about the poor and doesn’t even mention homosexuality or abortion.</p> <p>Some Christians are finally waking up to that.</p> <p>Change doesn’t happen overnight, but we’re starting to see a subtle shift in thinking that hopefully will shape the next generation.</p> The bottom line is if you search through the New Testament, Jesus mostly talks about the poor and doesn’t even mention homosexuality or abortion.

Some Christians are finally waking up to that.

Change doesn’t happen overnight, but we’re starting to see a subtle shift in thinking that hopefully will shape the next generation.

]]> By: WarOnWarOff http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931865 WarOnWarOff Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:50:01 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931865 <p><i>Once your vision of “openness to life” starts to shrink (abortion, death penalty, euthanasia, etc.), then you start to move down inward-looking paths that ultimately move a society away from long-term economic development.</i></p> <p>Every Sperm is Sacred!</p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47P59ha9k9s" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47P59ha9k9s</a></p> Once your vision of “openness to life” starts to shrink (abortion, death penalty, euthanasia, etc.), then you start to move down inward-looking paths that ultimately move a society away from long-term economic development.

Every Sperm is Sacred!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47P59ha9k9s

]]> By: Peterr http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931864 Peterr Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:43:03 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931864 <p>Here’s Benedict’s discussion of that:</p> <blockquote><p>Openness to life is at the centre of true development. When a society moves towards the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man’s true good. If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of a new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away[67]. The acceptance of life strengthens moral fibre and makes people capable of mutual help. By cultivating openness to life, wealthy peoples can better understand the needs of poor ones, they can avoid employing huge economic and intellectual resources to satisfy the selfish desires of their own citizens, and instead, they can promote virtuous action within the perspective of production that is morally sound and marked by solidarity, respecting the fundamental right to life of every people and every individual.</p></blockquote> <p>Shorter Benedict: Once your vision of “openness to life” starts to shrink (abortion, death penalty, euthanasia, etc.), then you start to move down inward-looking paths that ultimately move a society away from long-term economic development.</p> <p>I’m not sure how much I agree with it, but that’s his proposition.</p> Here’s Benedict’s discussion of that:

Openness to life is at the centre of true development. When a society moves towards the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man’s true good. If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of a new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away[67]. The acceptance of life strengthens moral fibre and makes people capable of mutual help. By cultivating openness to life, wealthy peoples can better understand the needs of poor ones, they can avoid employing huge economic and intellectual resources to satisfy the selfish desires of their own citizens, and instead, they can promote virtuous action within the perspective of production that is morally sound and marked by solidarity, respecting the fundamental right to life of every people and every individual.

Shorter Benedict: Once your vision of “openness to life” starts to shrink (abortion, death penalty, euthanasia, etc.), then you start to move down inward-looking paths that ultimately move a society away from long-term economic development.

I’m not sure how much I agree with it, but that’s his proposition.

]]> By: wigwam http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931863 wigwam Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:29:29 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931863 <p>Damn! Benedict channeling Leo XIII and some of John XXIII. The best thing from a pope since Vatican II.</p> Damn! Benedict channeling Leo XIII and some of John XXIII. The best thing from a pope since Vatican II.

]]> By: rapier http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931862 rapier Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:23:26 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/07/08/benedicts-challenging-words-to-congress-and-the-world-aid-the-poor/#comment-1931862 <p>In regard to the Seven Deadly Sins if you study them, from a Catholic perspective, Rush is among the mightiest sinners of all.</p> In regard to the Seven Deadly Sins if you study them, from a Catholic perspective, Rush is among the mightiest sinners of all.

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