The Pope vs The Donald

[ToomuchStuff]

Never thought that I would see The Trump defended in the Spirituality forum. Now I believe that anything is possible.

Faith, beliefs are an individual thing. Religion is an organized collection of people of similar beliefs (even they differ). Why wouldn't Trump deserve the same constitutional protections as the rest of the United States citizens?
Doesn't mean one has to agree with him to defend his right to be different!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[iris lily]

Never thought that I would see The Trump defended in the Spirituality forum. Now I believe that anything is possible.

Believe it or not, I didn't intend that! So, I moved it to the board where it belongs, Simple Public Policy.

Thanks for pointing this out

[oldhat]

Questioning the sincerity of someone's religious beliefs usually backfires in politics -- witness the kerfuffle that ensued over Elizabeth Dole's "godless" attack ad against Kay Hagan in 2008. The pope, being neither an American nor a politician, might be forgiven for not knowing this. At the risk of over-parsing the pope's original statement, though, he said Trump wasn't Christian, not that Trump wasn't a Christian. It's certainly true that a lot of people (maybe most) who call themselves Christians usually aren't within shouting distance of following the actual teachings of Jesus.

BTW, implying that the pope is a hypocrite because the Vatican doesn't allow "immigration" is a ridiculous straw man argument. Technically the Vatican is a country, but that's all. In fact, it's a giant administrative center, essentially the corporate headquarters of the Catholic church, which runs tens of thousands of schools, hospitals and other charitable organizations -- including many that help refugees -- worldwide. And I'm not a Catholic, in case you're wondering.

[iris lilies]

But now this thread has gone off on a Spirituality path, maybe I should move it back? haha.nope.

[iris lilies]

...BTW, implying that the pope is a hypocrite because the Vatican doesn't allow "immigration" is a ridiculous straw man argument. Technically the Vatican is a country, but that's all. In fact, it's a giant administrative center, essentially the corporate headquarters of the Catholic church, which runs tens of thousands of schools, hospitals and other charitable organizations -- including many that help refugees -- worldwide. And I'm not a Catholic, in case you're wondering.

I think it's just a little fun we are having with the immigration policy of Vatican City and their wall.

In all actuality I would be the first to throw myself on that wall were they to start bulldozing it. I suuport keeping historical architecture intact. I do not like when old things are bulldozed.

[ApatheticNoMore]

The pope may also have his own agenda: the advance of Catholicism. The only way you'll ever make the U.S. Catholic is immigration. Also it explains completely nutty ideas like advancing an environmental agenda without birth control. If the goal is protecting the environment then voluntary reduction of population with birth control seems infinitely sensible, but if you also want increase the population of Catholic church goers then ...

The U.S. should share more with the rest of the world, I don't disagree, but I see immigration as a pretty poor way to do this. Those forced to share under such schemes are always those who have almost nothing themselves (it's people with very little themselves who lose jobs to immigrants) AND in the U.S. immigration scheme even the immigrants themselves are most definitely NOT empowered (though they may be better off than at home), they don't have the legal protections usually of full U.S. citizens, so they are a pretty exploitable workforce for sure.

I can see how one can favorably interpret what the Pope says, but it can also be unfavorably interpreted as an agenda that serves to advance a more narrow interest of Catholicism as much as anything.

[ToomuchStuff]

Technically the Vatican is a country, but that's all.

So that makes them, technically, hypocritical.
Other countries have bases of operations, the Vatican's are called churches.

[pinkytoe]

I've kind of stopped watching the news as it makes me feel irritable. It seems like the whole world is irritable now.

[LDAHL]

His Holiness may have overstepped his area of expertise and gone outside the bounds of doctrinal infallibility.

So did the Pope.

[Williamsmith]

I've kind of stopped watching the news as it makes me feel irritable. It seems like the whole world is irritable now.

As long as you realize it's for entertainment and advertising.......not to produce an informed populace, then you'll be alright. Watching the morning news, I saw a nice pool of very red frothy blood which stood out nicely against the white snow it was mingled with. This marked the very spot that someone was killed. Very entertaining and shown immediately before cutting to commercial it maximized the viewers for the paying customer of air time. The average person isn't lucky enough to see real blood in that large amount on a daily basis but with the news, it's possible for anybody to get their fix without being exposed to the dangers of the actual event or scene.