The Wrath of God

[Torog]

The Wrath of God
By: Bill O'Reilly for BillOReilly.com
Thursday, Apr 21, 2005

The elevation of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger to head the Roman Catholic Church is a clear and concise message from the College of Cardinals: "We are royally teed off." Everybody knows that the new Pontiff is a tough guy who will not only throw the moneychangers out of the Temple, he'll kick them in the behind as they leave the building. Pope Benedict believes strongly in good and evil and he's not shy about pointing fingers. His letter to American bishops about politicians and abortion cost John Kerry dearly in the last election.

The Cardinals, of course, perfectly understand that Benedict is not exactly a cuddly guy, and will not be "reaching out," as they say in California. But his hard-line theological approach appeals to Church elders who have had enough.

In the past three decades, church attendance in the USA and Western Europe has dropped through the floor. Just 25% of American Catholics attend mass weekly and the number is in the single digits in long-standing Catholic countries like France. Secularism now rules the western world, and there are not enough priests to serve the remaining faithful. How do you say things are not good in Latin?

In the face of this spiritual decline, the Catholic Church has decided to make a stand. It will not compromise and it will not pander. You either toe the line or hit the bricks. Up to you.

As a life-long Catholic, I don't like this approach, but I understand it. The west is now besieged by forces that want to wipe spirituality completely out of the public square. The American Civil Liberties Union is the point organization in this effort. It supports all abortion-on-demand, including late term, no parental consent for minors having abortions, euthanasia with consent, gay marriage, and the free speech rights of the North American Man-Boy Love Association, which has posted instructions on how to rape children on its website.

The ACLU opposes public funding for the Boy Scouts because their oath mentions God, the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools, public displays of the baby Jesus at Christmas and any restraint on internet pornography in public libraries.

For the most part, the western media sympathizes with the ACLU and promotes its point-of-view. Thus, the secular message is a constant in our society, and the hits just keep on coming.

And where is the opposing point-of-view? Well, there are a few media outlets that give traditionalists a fair shake, but very few.

So the Catholic Cardinals feel isolated and surrounded. They can preach to the choir on Sunday but get battered by the news and entertainment media the rest of the week. A strong Papal voice countering that situation is soothing. And that's why Cardinal Ratzinger is now Pope Benedict XVI.

I believe organized religion can be a champion of human rights and provide resistance to secular societies which, if they progress much further, will never be able to defeat the fanatical Islamic fundamentalists. The more permissive the western world becomes, the more it rejects discipline and avoids confronting evil, the greater the danger to freedom will be.

Pope Benedict is facing a rapidly changing world and perhaps he will be a strong and persuasive shepherd against evil. The danger is that he will be so rigid that he will erode the spiritual core even further, thereby helping the secularists.

But the new Pope may have an epiphany and realize good people will rally against evil if the case of clear and present danger is made rationally and with compassion. I am praying that happens. The other side is hoping it will not.

Torog Reviewed by Torog on 04-24-2005. The Wrath of God The Wrath of God By: Bill O'Reilly for BillOReilly.com Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 The elevation of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger to head the Roman Catholic Church is a clear and concise message from the College of Cardinals: "We are royally teed off." Everybody knows that the new Pontiff is a tough guy who will not only throw the moneychangers out of the Temple, he'll kick them in the behind as they leave the building. Pope Benedict believes strongly in good and evil and he's not shy about Rating: 5

[F L E S H]

I don't mind much this new pope, for the reason that I don't think he's such a hardliner everyone makes him out to. He was the head of Doctrine of the Faith thingy before he became pope, and it was his job to be very strict on matters of faith and dogma. But people have a really short memory. Remember John XXIII, the guy who called for Vatican II, one of the strongest reforms movements in Catholic history? Well, before he was pope, he was one of the most conservative cardinals out there. Go figure. So in other words, yes, I am defending Benedict XVI.

Another thing to remember is that he was John Paul II's right hand man, and he didn't take a decision without consulting Ratzinger. So there's no reason to believe that he will be any different than the last pope, except maybe for all that travelling, since he's older...

However, it doesn't stop that article from being pure bullshit from the first word, as Bill O'Reilly is a complete idiot. There's a lot more than just You vs ACLU. And there's nothing wrong, and everything right, with secularism. How can organized religion fight Islamic fundamentalism? Are you forgetting that Islamic fundamentalism results from organized religion? Fucking hypocrisy.

And believe me, there's nothing spiritual about organized religion in any case. It's a political state, and all you have to do to be a part of it is repeat the bullshit other people tell you. Chrisitian spirituality has gone the way of the dodo about 1,500 years ago. Now, you're a Christian if your against abortion, against gays, against any other religion. What's spiritual about that?

[Torog]

Howdy FLESH,

You ask: " How can organized religion fight Islamic fundamentalism ? "

Ever hear of the Crusades ? Maybe it's time for the Second Crusade..?

Christians got organized and put a Christian man in the White House,2 terms in a row..despite all the secularists. Just wait and see,what organized Christians can do..we're gonna take this country back,from the amoral Left..and make it a decent place to raise children again.

Have a good one....

[Delta9]

I don't go to Church because I was educated at a public school and then attended a Catholic University and found out that Catholic officials are dogmatic jack-offs. I don't share opinons with those that run the Church so I therefore don't support them, their worthless charities, or their dictoral teachings.

[Delta9]

Jesus don't pack a bong. In fact A priest would turn you into the authorites for confessing you sins. A Christian does the right thing, they do what any good citizen would do we they see someone smoking a joint. they call the police. They would proudly swear before the court and testify that they witnessed you buy the drugs. And they would justly put you were every drug user belongs, in jail.

[Nullific]

Ever hear of the Crusades ? Maybe it's time for the Second Crusade..?

Christians got organized and put a Christian man in the White House,2 terms in a row..despite all the secularists. Just wait and see,what organized Christians can do..we're gonna take this country back,from the amoral Left..and make it a decent place to raise children again.

You're a fuckin piece of shit. Theres already been a second crusade, and a third and millions of people died for NOTHING. You need to get it through your head that not all the fucking muslims are fundamentalists like YOU.
You need to realize that this country was not built to be a nation safe to raise children. Beyond that, all you're doing is using 'children' to gain sympathy from people...you go from MUSLIMS WAR to LIBERALS threaten our CHILDREN MORALS.
You want war? You want people to die? Well i'd fucking kill you in an instant if I ever got the chance...so go ahead, kill the fucking muslims and the 'liberals', turn America into a theocracy and make "God" your leader; show humans world wide that ever after hundreds of thousands of years people still never learn from the past.

[amsterdam]

wow nullific,you sound like you have some issues you arent dealing with.

[F L E S H]

Meh, you misread my post, but it doesn't really matter, I know exactly how you'd respond in any case.

FYI, there's already been 4 crusades, each more disastrous than the last. You should read up on that kind of stuff, I'm sure you'd love it...

One day, Torog, you'll realize that 'fundy' muslims, like you call them, exist because of people like you. Your intolerance breeds intolerance in others who are sick of your arrogance, who are sick of Americans like you (not all Americans, obviously) that think that they have God 'on their side.' Well guess what, they think they have God on their side too, so it only comes dowwn to your word against theirs.

I hope one day you'll realize that organizations like the ACLU (who I think are idiots too... extremism on either side is wrong) exist just because you exist. There is a happy middle, and once people start to realize it, then maybe things will get better. But only when you realize you're as much a war- and hate-monger as Islamic fundamentalists are, and only when extreme liberals like the ACLU realize that their way is just as wrong as yours. All you hear about in American politics are the extremes, and that is the heart of the problem.

[amsterdam]

politics are way to extreme these days,people gotta chill.the world isn't gonna end!!life is good and only getting better.

[F L E S H]

politics are way to extreme these days,people gotta chill.the world isn't gonna end!!life is good and only getting better.

At least we can agree on something