[Not] Breaking news; Catholic church still hateful

[Seax]

Why are you so mad? It affects you in no way whatsoever, since you live in a secular state & you don't believe in Catholicism.

So, only those things which affect us immediately and personally are worthy of concern?

I'm neither Tutsi nor Rwandan, but that genocide affected me.

I'm not a parent, but I'm angered by child abuse.

I'm neither Muslim nor Arab, but I object to the characterization of all members of these groups as terrorist.

I'm not elderly, but elder abuse makes me angry.

And so on.

Boru

Catholicism is a belief system that anyone in a secular society is free to adopt or abandon. It's a false analogy.

The foundation of a free society is freedom of conscience; individuals are allowed to think for themselves and make up their own minds, to seek the truth for themselves. Necessarily this means that others will hold believes one thinks are wrong; that is their right. You are allowed to be an atheist, and others are allowed to be Catholic, according to their personal conscience.

You have every right to tell the Catholic Church that they are wrong, but you have no right to insist that they change their religion to suit you. You wouldn't like it if the Catholic Church started telling you how to run this forum.

---

Do you have any concept of the word "Nuance"?

The Pope/Vatican does have power and influence. But not in any western government law making power. 

He only has power over those who follow him. Nobody in the open free west is mandated by government to worship him or his religion. He has no power over same sex couples. 

His proclaiming the Vatican cannot bless same sex unions because "it is a sin" is an attempt for that institution to assert power over others.

You’re the one who implied that the Pope had the power to make law, not me.

He actually does have some power over same sex couples, if those couples happen to be Catholic. Even if they aren’t Catholic, he can refuse to let them be married in a Catholic Church.

Boru

Which is his right. No one has the right to be married in someone's else church, especially not in a country like America with thousands of denominations & where anyone is free to start his own if none of the preexisting ones suit him.