(August 29, 2012 at 9:07 pm)padraic Wrote: To accept dogma is to accept something as true because it comes from authority,(such as the Bible) not from evidence. One may not argue against dogma. If you reject ANY Church dogma (even in the C of E) you are automatically excommunicate.(ask your priest) Dogma is also anti science; this is demonstrated whenever science contradicts dogma.
I just told you about the Virgin Birth which is a dogma by any standard. I just told you about what the Archbishop of Canterbury said. I think you have totally mistaken the CoE for the RC.
Quote:A parasite may also be a paedophile ,but not necessarily. A parasite is a creature or plant which lives of another,sometimes killing it. Clergy leech off the body civil.
That's what some people say about the monarchy. Obviously a cultural issue.
Quote:Nowhere did I sate I was referring only to the C of E or even Christianity. However, perhaps have a little look at what the C of E actually owns ,starting with churches,cathedrals and land. My position is that all of those things should belong to the communities which paid for them or to the state.
I don't think anyone paid for the church buildings. Most of them were forcibly taken over by the monarchy from the RCs at one time. Today, donations are collected from people but people are free not to give if they don't value our cultural heritage. It's a free world.
Quote:Religions still interfere in politics on a macro and micro level.: Have look at the lunar religious right in the US. Plus the insistence of Christianity and Islam especially in trying to impose their beliefs and values on others .
I can't answer for American insanity. I was told half of Americans believe God created the whole universe 10,000 years ago. I think America needs to build a HUGE mental hospital.
Quote:The Catholic Church: The Vatican is recognised as a state. Although the only non voting member of the UN,it sits on many committees and panels where it ALWAYS pushes The Church position. The official church position is that church/canon law trumps civil law. THAT is the basis the child abuse scandals in Christian churches. (including C of E) That and insisting on protecting the institution at the expense of its most vulnerable members.
No, when you say "including C of E" you clearly don't know a thing about my church. The rules written out in Vatican in the 1960s that require the vow of secrecy to be taken on pain of excommunication by all victims of abuse and all the other impediments thrown by the rules on proper justice are UNIQUE to the RC church. Many people are honestly mistaken about the CoE. We're not at all like the RC. If you advocate the banning of the RC religion, I can see grounds for that. It has caused a great deal of harm to mankind. In most debates about whether the church is a force for good (I'm thinking of the one Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry participated in), every bad is directly attributable to the RC church. They are really the black sheep of Christianity. Even Richard Dawkins has said that the CoE is a "benign religion".
