Asymmetric Religion and Philosophy

Here.

Madrid, Spain, Feb 27, 2009 / 05:36 pm (CNA).- Carlos Paya, spokesman for the Christian Liberation Movement in Spain, has asked the European Union and Spain to promote dialogue in Cuba, as the country has been neglected by Latin America.

According to the Spanish media, Paya said the Cuban people “no longer expect anything from the government of Raul Castro and there are no expectations for change beyond a few cosmetic details.”

Paya added, “Raul is only interested in more power, more repression and has nothing but apathy for the people.” Amidst such a situation, he said, “Cubans must take the initiative.”

Paya’s comments are also shared by other dissident leaders, who believe the reforms of Raul Castro are “timid and cosmetic” and will not lead to greater freedom.

Vatican City, Jun 29, 2008 / 12:06 pm (CNA).- During the celebration of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul at the Vatican Basilica, Pope Benedict XVI called the Archbishops who had just received the pallium to be shepherds of the whole world. He said the world, like the Gospel’s lost sheep, has lost its way home.

The Mass was attended by Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I, who in an unprecedented gesture was invited to deliver a homily.

The Patriarch's homily, which preceded the Pope's, centered upon the growing links of friendship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church, whose see is in Constantinople. The majority of the Christians who remain in the areas once evangelized by St. Paul belong to the Orthodox Church.

From here.

Committed Christians must consider the separations which have occurred between Christians as a tragedy. The conflicts started shortly after the death of Christ between those who wanted to keep the Jewish law and those who didn't and accelerated after becoming the official Roman religion under Constantine with the great heresies (Arianism, Monophysitism, etc.). These conflicts contributed to the weakness of Christendom against Islam's initial incursions into Christian lands in the seventh century and have led to wars between Christians.

The two greatest splits occurred between Catholicism and Eastern Christianity (Orthodox) and then the one most Americans are familiar with, the division between Catholicism (and Orthodoxy) and protestants.

Of the divisions, the one between Catholicism and Orthodoxy has the greatest chance (Anglicans are the next closest.) for reconciliation. The two groups believe the same thing about the seven sacraments and have a hierarchical structure that can negotiate differences of which the role of the pope is the most difficult.

Negotiation between Orthodoxy and Catholicism is the preferred route to unity since, barring Jesus' return, it seems unlikely that there'll a mass conversion of one group to the other.

Anyways, all Christians should pray for unity.

It wasn't just an accident of history that tragically separated Catholics and the Orthodox; leaders argued over papal authority and lesser things. It's important to note that as far as dogma is concerned, the two churches are almost identical with the same understanding of the central recurring event of our faiths, the mass, and that which the mass exists to distribute, the Eucharist.

Anyways, merry Christmas, and I pray that we can be one Church again.

In keeping with the ecumenical philosophy of Asymmetric, I'd like to wish all of my atheist brothers and sisters a Happy Solstice. In praise of atheism:

1. One of the most important observations in my life is that, in everything from football to ideology in this case, competition makes people better. Just like atheists may behave better to avoid the charge that they're God-less hedonists, I'm conscious that I represent my religion to non-Catholics.

2. Many atheist criticisms of religion are valid.

3. If one were to base judgments of people on behavior instead of ideology, of course there are moral, according to the traditional Christian concept, atheists.

4. Atheism is a perfectly reasonable philosophy: If one were to assume that there only exists the physical, then there is no God. I'm not up on the latest science, but as to how the universe came about itself, I'm sure there's some sensible non-theistic explanation. After the original creation, atheistic explanations of life and evolution are logical, without getting too into it at this time.

So, as I said to my Muslim brothers and sisters: Let's live in peace! (we do anyways, but I just wanted to be consistent).

I'm going to start to wish my brothers and sisters of different faiths blessings on their holidays (sorry I missed Yom Kippur, Jews. I'll catch you on Hanukkah. For my brother Atheists, I have to decide between Nietzsche's birthday or the release date of Pink Floyd's The Wall). Today is Eid Ul-Fitr (festival) which marks the end of Ramadan. God bless you and your families. Oh, and let's live in peace, yes?

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That's nice. I hope it works out. We should only allow peaceful conversions and let God decide who was right at the "End." It's also kind of strange- kind of like Ike Turner telling Tina that they need to get along better. The only people being "driven from their homes" are Christians by Muslims in Muslim countries. But, I don't want to be cynical. I hope...Indeed, I pray for peace between the two religions and this could be a good start.

from here

The "survival of the world" is at stake if Muslims and Christians do not make peace with each other, leaders of the Muslim world will warn the Pope and other Christian leaders today.

In an unprecedented open letter signed by 138 leading scholars from every sect of Islam, the Muslims plead with Christian leaders "to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions" and spell out the similarities between passages of the Bible and the Koran.

The scholars state: "As Muslims, we say to Christians that we are not against them and that Islam is not against them - so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them and drive them out of their homes."

Cardinal Mahony is not a noble man. He wishes he could press "rewind" the damage caused by the shameful sexual abuse of the Church as if it were a video tape, yet he was in a position to press, to keep with the same simile, "stop."

I'm angry at the Church for making itself the butt of jokes (deserved, sadly) and an object of derision. Of course, this doesn't have to do with the Church' teaching and the Church has been here before (think of the worldly popes from the renaissance, about Sixtus 4 to Alexander 6, whose exploits would make Charlie Sheen blush), and the Church will survive this as well, but it's still a horror and an embarrassment.

It seems to me that the Church could avoid lots of this stuff if it allowed its priests to marry. I've discussed it before and won't rehash here, but it's an idea whose time has come (it probably came about 1600, actually). The Orthodox do it and they're only a little in error.

With all due respect, this guy makes me ill.

LA Times story below

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Link: http://www.nelsonguirado.com/index.php/religion/2006/12/16/religious_dialogue_with_fallen_away_cath

I asked my new blogging buddy at The Winged Man which religion he followed as reading his blog left me unclear. He responded that he was raised a Catholic and was now closer to Episcopalianism. I found that interesting since conversions usually occur in the other direction-Cardinal Newman and Chesterton being the most famous. Anyways, I asked him to do a sort of cross-blog thing and explain at how he arrived at his decision. I hope he replies.

Link: http://www.vicmord.com/index.html

Great history lesson concerning the comments the Pope made in Germany on Islam. I don't necessarily endorse this view, as I get the feeling that people who just like conflict may be exaggerating the effect Islam has or will have on Western democracies. It's an interesting point of view, however.

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Link: http://fjordman.blogspot.com/2005/07/china-christian-v-communist.html

I bet you didn't know that China may be the second largest Christian country in the world. With Christianity on the decline and Islam on the rise in Europe, I wonder where the bases of Christianity will be in 100 years. This reminds me of an article in the Catholic Encyclopedia predicting that Buddhism would eventually be supplanted by Christianity (peacefully, I assume), "The spread of European civilization over the East will inevitably bring about its extinction."

Which brings me to the Catholic encyclopedia itself. Steeped in PC as most Amercans are, I sometimes don't know how I'm to respond to such confident, some would say chauvanistic analysis of other religions; I don't know what to make of my discomfort.