I know that in Catholic hospitals that's what doctors have to do -- they can't prescribe birth control, but they can give the Pill for "irregular periods" or some such

FWIW, my doctor is affiliated with Georgetown University Hospital, which is Catholic, and she prescribed the pill as contraception. Maybe it makes a difference that I'm married (though it shouldn't), or maybe this depends on the hospital and the doctor.

Edit: LJ, I should have said in my anecdotal experience.

But I'd love to see him explain why Hinduism offers more false hope than Christianity. And more cruel concepts.

Because Christianity's true, silly. Also, God only hurts with love.

Actually, seriously, could you have someone heading the Church who didn't believe it was the One True Faith?

He can't have said autoerotic. That's just icky. But I'd love to see him explain why Hinduism offers more false hope than Christianity. And more cruel concepts.

Yeah, I don't get autoerotic in that context. I think he would probably say that all religions that are not Catholic offer false hope because Catholicism is right.

could you have someone heading the Church who didn't believe it was the One True Faith?

No, but identifying enemies isn't a requirement of belief is it?

Actually, seriously, could you have someone heading the Church who didn't believe it was the One True Faith?

I do think it's possible to believe yours is the One True Faith without going out of your way to explicitly demonize others. It's possible to say "Here are all the things I think are nifty about Jesus" without tacking on, "And here's why Buddhism sucks."

Ratzzinger's nickname was "Cardinal No," and he's very conservative.

But does he have a hairless cat? Yes, I know I am mixing my Bond villains.

I think electing that dude pope is the same thing, metaphorically, as electing Bob Dole president. Like, the skills of being a party apparatchik and attack dog are not the same skills that persuade people whom you don't already have by the short-and-curlies. And that is before you get to talking about yourself in the third person.

As for his being the head of the Inquisition, well, George Bush I was head of the CIA for a while, before he became Veep and then president. Which is a nice datum for the Lefty Paranoiacs Organizational Front newsletter, but didn't turn out to tell us anything about how he would govern the country.

I was ignoring the "enemies" part for the moment and focusing on the "false" part. But I can imagine a less-martial definition of enemy -- these are the forces that will encourage people away from Catholicism.

Fair enough, ita, no one's saying he felt bad about it- I suppose I should say, I'm not willing to wave it away in light of his current poor standing with me.

Do you think he's creating an "other" to hate, or that he's preaching the doctrine he believes is true.

I think saying Buddhists could replace Marxists as the church's enemy is creating an "other" to hate, whether he believes it's true or not.

I am not a Catholic, and I could go through the Catechism, if I could be arsed to do so, and tell you where I think Catholic doctrine is wrong. Would that make me a hater, or one who promotes hate? How is it different from what we're doing now (except of course, that we're only talking to each other--and don't have the attention of the world--yet).

I don't understand your point. I didn't say he was a hater because he pointed out what was wrong with other religions. I said that he points to lies and distortions as if they are wholly a result of secularism, and I'm pointing out that if that's all he learned from the Holocaust, it was a poor lesson indeed, since his words quoted upthread were distortions.

I can imagine a less-martial definition of enemy -- these are the forces that will encourage people away from Catholicism

I can also imagine a less-martial way of expressing the concept, just as you have.

I would have liked to see some one different, but I didn't expect anyone different. I am not religious, and so I have no religious stakes in this , but I would like to see the catholic church move faster on admitting mistakes. Turns out the city I live in now was a dumping ground for problem priests. One of my good friends has a brother that was abused by his priest. It took amazing courage and years of dedication and research for him to prove his story. Last night was a formal apology service. My friend's family is still hated by other member of the congregation that think D is lying. (by the way - he is getting a lot of healing by bringing this public) What I would like to see is the Catholic Church admit that it has made some serious errors that have harmed people and MOVE forward to try and improve the situation.