Devil is in the Vatican

[Welsh cake]

[Minimalist]

Figures, really. If they don't blame the fucking devil they'd have to look in a mirror to find the perverts. Way too much to ask of those cassock-wearing, bullshit-spouting, child-molesting, queer-as-a-three-dollar-bill, hypocrites.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Chief exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth says the Devil himself is behind the child sex scandals that rocked the Catholic Church.

When I was 5 my mother was obliged to have words with the head nun at the convent school I attended,over:

(1)The nightmares I had due to the graphic stories our class teacher told us about the deaths of the martyrs.

(2) My cunning propensity to take on an angelic expressions and exclaim "the Devil made me do it" as a defence of any accusation of wrong doing.


The stories stopped and I was confronted with the reality that blaming the devil just won't wash,so I stopped doing it.----and you say there's an 80 yr old cardinal who still does it? Why doesn't that surprise me?


Funny how the church's attitude to the Devil and demonology changes as convenient. Heaven forbid some clerical douchebag be held accountable for his criminal activities.---OF course there was a time when civil authorities could not prosecute clergy for any offence whatsoever. The Church graciously allowed civil authorities to burn heretics at the stake,once the Church had found them guilty

[RedFish]

We call him 'EvilNaziPope', just look in his eyes.... The catholic church is a disgrace, and should be tried for crimes against humanity. News on in my localshop this morning says the pope has written a letter apologising etc... F*** you your assholiness, we want blood. The Universal Church of the Holy Roman Empire. < Its full title. Far more accurate as a descriptor.
If possession by demons requiring exorcism is an actual reality, and not just an excuse for unacceptable behaviour, why do these demons not flee at the approach of someone of faith? Surely they know who the sky daddy is. A friend of mine once hallucinated a terrifying demon, and argued logically that it was merely a construct of his imagination, and even if it weren't it could not harm him without harming its own existence. He calmly explained this, and the 'demon' left. He was off his face on magic mushrooms, but said afterwards that he couldn't understand what all the fuss was over 'demons'. ''They're a bit stupid, really.''

[downbeatplumb]

We call him 'EvilNaziPope', just look in his eyes.... The catholic church is a disgrace, and should be tried for crimes against humanity. News on in my localshop this morning says the pope has written a letter apologising etc... F*** you your assholiness, we want blood. The Universal Church of the Holy Roman Empire. < Its full title. Far more accurate as a descriptor.
If possession by demons requiring exorcism is an actual reality, and not just an excuse for unacceptable behaviour, why do these demons not flee at the approach of someone of faith? Surely they know who the sky daddy is. A friend of mine once hallucinated a terrifying demon, and argued logically that it was merely a construct of his imagination, and even if it weren't it could not harm him without harming its own existence. He calmly explained this, and the 'demon' left. He was off his face on magic mushrooms, but said afterwards that he couldn't understand what all the fuss was over 'demons'. ''They're a bit stupid, really.''

A friend of mine was once chased around a field by giant smurfs when he was off his face on shrooms.
Sounds funny now but scared the shit out him at the time.

[Darwinian]

Was that Mad Corbett?

[downbeatplumb]

Was that Mad Corbett?

No.

[Samson]

The Atheist Experience show was just talking about this last week......

Typical....."The Debal made me do it".......

[RedFish]

Just as a further to what I said earlier. I'm not advocating drug use, was a long time ago and we were all styoopid. er. But how would you atheists feel if somebody were to offer you a substance that would enable you to 'see God'? What if this 'experience' were repeatable and universal? Would you give it creedence? Returning from the 'wilderness' carrying ecstatic visions..., or just poisoning/ indigestion?

[downbeatplumb]

Just as a further to what I said earlier. I'm not advocating drug use, was a long time ago and we were all styoopid. er. But how would you atheists feel if somebody were to offer you a substance that would enable you to 'see God'? What if this 'experience' were repeatable and universal? Would you give it creedence? Returning from the 'wilderness' carrying ecstatic visions..., or just poisoning/ indigestion?

You would not be experiencing god, just the effects of a drug, in much the same way as my mate was not really being chased by smurfs.
It seems there is an areaof the brain that when stimulated simulates the experince people feel when they 'experience god' (darwinian had a thread on it a while ago) so maybe the drug would be stimulating that area.
It would prove exactly zip, one way or the other on the existance of a god.