Saturday Open Thread [5.2.15]
Pope Francis is set to release his first Papal Encyclical and it will be on climate change. The Pope is recognizing that climate change is real, it is caused by humans and it needs to be addressed now. Conservatives are losing their minds — this Pope has immense moral credibility — and the Heartland Institute is so upset that they are trying to get a meeting with the Pope to make him an offer he can’t refuse, presumably. Seriously, the hubris of these people to think that a man with the world’s greatest minds at his fingertips could find the Heartland Institute’s propaganda compelling. This Pope is not a clueless American conservative.
Governor Markell seems poised to veto HB 50 letting parents opt out of school testing regimes. Anyone know what it takes to override a veto AND a current vote count for override?
Here’s more injustice out of Baltimore:
Allen Bullock, a Baltimore teen arrested for smashing a police car window with a traffic cone amid the Freddie Gray protests last week, is reportedly being held on a higher bail than the officers charged on Friday in Gray’s death.
Bullock, 18, who voluntarily surrendered to authorities at the urging of his parents, is being held on $500,000 bail, while the six officers accused in the Gray case were held on a range of $250,000 to $350,000, according to the Associated Press. NBC News has confirmed that all six officers arrested for Gray’s death have since been bailed out. Bail hearings are not open to the public in the state of Maryland.
So somehow, judges in Baltimore value property over the life on one African American man. Surprised?
The Pope opposes gay marriage, homosexuality in general, abortion, and woman in the clergy because he’s the Pope, but as long as he supports the left’s pet political issue then he has “immense moral credibility”? Relatively speaking I assume.
Yes, so here we see why you are an American conservative, right? Nuance and reality don’t matter much to you — just the talking points of the day. Pope Francis has won many fans precisely because he is insisting on the Church’s pastoral mission be its forward face. Everyone — especially Catholics — get that he has changed not one whit of Church doctrine. But what he won’t do is demonize the people who don’t fit into that narrow set of rules. I know you cannot get this. But this man has the most moral authority of pretty much any Pope of my lifetime, and this is why conservatives with their bamboozling agenda are so unnerved by him. As far as I am concerned, Pope Francis’ insistence on the Church living the central message of the New Testament is a welcome sea change. If anything, because American conservatives don’t know what to do about that.
“But what he won’t do is demonize the people who don’t fit into that narrow set of rules.”
Well said Cassandra. To quote Francis, “Who am I to judge?”
It is unnerving when some one like Francis lives and acts more Christian, than those who wear their Christianity on their sleeve but behave like anything but a Christian. What do you make of a person who does things like washing the feet of Muslim prisoners and installs showers in the Vatican for homeless?
“But what he won’t do is demonize the people who don’t fit into that narrow set of rules.”
That sounds like, “hate the sin, and not the sinner”…. That’s standard Catholic procedure as far as I know. Same with the “Who am I to judge” deal.
That’s supposed to be standard Christian procedure as far as I know.
Fixed that for you. Good luck finding conservative Christians who actually live with this.
You have a fundamental misunderstanding of the Catholic Church’s position on homosexuality, FBH.
So now that Ben Carson has announced he’s running for President, how about an update on the GOP presidential fantasy league, jason?
Ding Steve, Carson was my favorite for the Delaware nut jobs candidate for president (aka repubublican presidential candidate). Glad to see he has taken a seat in the clown bus. SA, FBH has a fundamental misunderstanding of most everything. Nothing new here.
“You have a fundamental misunderstanding of the Catholic Church’s position on homosexuality, FBH.”
I’m an Episcopalian who rarely goes to church, but my understanding of the Catholic Church’s official position on homosexuality, is that it’s a sin.
Since my fundamental understanding of the church is so limited, maybe you could link me to an official statement from the Catholic Church that contradicts my understanding, SussexAnon .
And what is the Church’s position on sinners?
The Catholic church does not homosexuality is a sin. Also it does not take hate the sin not the sinner approach. That approach is used by some fundamentalist groups to disguise their bigotry.