Pope running scared!

[ib.me.ub]

NEWSFLASH: Vatican Attacks Pantheism & Avatar Movie.
The Vatican appears to be launching an all-fronts attack on Pantheism. Vatican media slammed the movie Avatar for promoting Pantheism, and Pope Benedict XVI attacked Pantheism twice in six months!

http://www.pantheism.net/vatican.htm

Looks like something is in the wind ;-).

[chasm]

Har har... do people even listen to them anymore?

[ib.me.ub]

Har har... do people even listen to them anymore?

lol. Whats your point? Obviously the Pope does.

Is that it, is that the extent of your of your crack. Nice try.

[LastPoet]

Just a mad man, shooting in all directions, trying to divert from the nasty deeds done by his cult.

[DeistPaladin]

The phrase "It's just a movie" is lost on religious people.

It reminds me of the fuss they made over Harry Potter "promoting witchcraft". The author is an atheist who doesn't believe in magic. It's not promoting anything. It's a book.

I loved the Blues Brothers but seeing it doesn't convince me that Catholicism is the Truth.

In fairness, some atheists also get bent out of shape over some works of fiction. A few YouTube atheists railed about Avatar, how it promotes mysticism and how the skeptics turned out to be wrong in the story. Dude, it's a movie. The skeptics are always wrong in the movies. There's always a ghost in the haunted house or a magical book or a secret elaborate government conspiracy or a dimensional gateway or an alien spacecraft or etc.

[ib.me.ub]

Yes, its a movie. But the message it contains is relevant. Anyway, the post was mainly about Pantheism!

[DeistPaladin]

Yes, its a movie. But the message it contains is relevant. Anyway, the post was mainly about Pantheism!

I'm in favor of pantheism for those who think it's the best philosophy for them. Catholicism, by contrast, is an unhealthy lifestyle choice and I only want to hear what the Pope says at his trial for aiding and abetting in cases of child rape. The message in Avatar is that we shouldn't let corporations run everything and trashing the environment is a bad idea.

Grammar question: Shouldn't pantheism and deism be spelled lower case since they're IMHO philosophies and not religions?

[Skipper]

Never really heard of Pantheism. looked it up and it sounds a lot like Hinduism. God is everything, nature, the universe and us are god etc. Which to me is a concept I never really understood. But glad to see the pope trying to divert attention from his own shitty religion.

[DeistPaladin]

Never really heard of Pantheism. looked it up and it sounds a lot like Hinduism. God is everything, nature, the universe and us are god etc.

Actually, it's closer to atheism in practice. Scientific pantheism, which states that "God" is everything but there is no consciousness to the universe is essentially atheism with "find word/change to" function applied. Other versions of pantheism theme might suggest that the universe has a collective consciousness but even this isn't much different in practice. Unlike Hinduism, there are no temples, prayers, priests, etc.

I'm curious of the author of the OP could share what pantheism means to you.

[ib.me.ub]

More than words can explain. Here is a good summary though;

At the heart of pantheism is reverence of the universe as the ultimate focus of reverence, and for the natural earth as sacred.

Scientific or Natural Pantheism - Pan for short - has a naturalistic approach which simply accepts and reveres the universe and nature just as they are, and promotes an ethic of respect for human and animal rights and for lifestyles that sustain rather than destroy the environment.

When scientific pantheists say WE REVERE THE UNIVERSE we are not talking about a supernatural being. We are talking about the way our senses and our emotions force us to respond to the overwhelming mystery and power that surrounds us.
We are part of the universe. Our earth was created from the universe and will one day be reabsorbed into the universe.
We are made of the same matter and energy as the universe. We are not in exile here: we are at home. It is only here that we will ever get the chance to see paradise face to face. If we believe our real home is not here but in a land that lies beyond death - if we believe that the numinous is found only in old books, or old buildings, or inside our head, or outside this reality - then we will see this real, vibrant, luminous world as if through a glass darkly.
The universe creates us, preserves us, destroys us. It is deep and old beyond our ability to reach with our senses. It is beautiful beyond our ability to describe in words. It is complex beyond our ability to fully grasp in science. We must relate to the universe with humility, awe, reverence, celebration and the search for deeper understanding - in many of the ways that believers relate to their God, minus the grovelling worship or the expectation that there is some being out there who can answer our prayers.

This overwhelming presence is everywhere inside you and outside you and you can never be separated from it.

Whatever else is taken from you, this can never be taken from you.
Wherever you are, it's there with you.
Wherever you go, it goes with you.
Whatever happens to you, it remains with you.

When pantheists say WE REVERE AND CARE FOR NATURE, we mean it with just as much commitment and reverence as believers speaking about their church or mosque, or the relics of their saints. But again we are not talking about supernatural beings. We are saying this:

We are part of nature. Nature made us and at our death we will be reabsorbed into nature. We are at home in nature and in our bodies. This is where we belong. This is the only place where we can find and make our paradise, not in some imaginary world on the other side of the grave. If nature is the only paradise, then separation from nature is the only hell. When we destroy nature, we create hell on earth for other species and for ourselves.

Nature is our mother, our home, our security, our peace, our past and our future. We should treat natural things and habitats as believers treat their temples and shrines, as sacred - to be revered and preserved in all their intricate and fragile beauty.