Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the

[Jauronimo]

No you are !@#$ing wrong that is exactly what they were talking about- you can say they are morons and that is not what you are about but you can't say that's not one of the things people who believe in a "war on Christmas" complain about.

You're a hard case. Lets try again.

 

Is Bill offended BECAUSE retailers are saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Xmas" or is he offended by WHY retailers have made the shift? Is he angry about how these retailers are exercising free speech or is he angry that they're being pressured not to? If Bill is taking exception with retailers who have dropped any mention of Xmas from their marketing, is it because he needs his Xmas fix or is it because they kowtowed to an obnoxious and tiny minority? Don't let me down.

 

Every year someone files a grievance against a podonk town or a major corporation because of a nativity scene, or a sign which reads "Merry Christmas", or even a xmas tree decoration. There are nutjobs out there that think anything even remotely christian or a coniferous tree is state sponsored oppression. Because these people are particularly obnoxious, we appease them to make them shut up. Its poor precedence. That is the War on Xmas.

 

O'Reilly is a blowhard and that book they were pumping isn't worth the paper its printed on, but you've completely misrepresented the issue.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Jauronimo

[B-Man]

Back to Pope Francis

 

Pope Drops Bombshell, Media Ignores.

 

A rather extraordinary event took place this Friday.

 

The first Encyclical from the Papacy of Francis I was released titled LUMEN FIDEI (the light of faith).

 

Under ordinary circumstances the first Encyclical of a new pope is significant, this one even more so as it an Encyclical that, while signed by one Pope is authored by two:

As Francis himself told a group of cardinals and bishops in May, the encyclical was written “with four hands” together with retired Pope Benedict XVI.

 

Benedict had almost finished the text when he resigned on Feb. 28. Francis took up the unfinished work, adding a “few contributions” to Benedict’s “fine work” and publishing it under his own name.

{snip}

 

And if this was not enough reason to make this story newsworthy, the section on faith and family, given the recent rulings on Gay Marriage from the Supreme Court would surely draw media attention (all emphasis mine):

 

In Abraham’s journey towards the future city, the Letter to the Hebrews mentions the blessing which was passed on from fathers to sons (cf. Heb 11:20-21). The first setting in which faith enlightens the human city is the family. I think first and foremost of the stable union of man and woman in marriage.

 

The family: “A stable union of man and woman“, “a manifestation of the Creator’s goodness, wisdom and loving plan.“, “a plan bigger than our own ideas and undertakings“!

 

Such a statement would be considered “Fighting words” if uttered by a Bishop on TV. There would be no shortage of journalists challenging him with hard-hitting questions or side guests raining critique on such a clergyman in the most vehement of terms.

 

On Memeorandum there would be link after link from Media Matters and Think Progress decrying it as “homophobic”, as contrary to “marriage equality” (a phrase that means absolutely nothing) and leftist bloggers would amplify the attack in an unending stream of paragraphs filled with vitriol.

 

Yet how does the media react when the Supreme Pontiff, the head of the Worldwide Roman Catholic Church the single most important religious figure in the world releases, in writing a statement that challenges the MSM most cherished belief (next to the sanctity of abortion) and does it in his very first public Encyclical? What do we hear from the media who has never found a traditional value it wasn’t willing to attack?

 

Crickets.

 

Why? Why this conspicuous silence, why does the MSM, when this pope challenges them, see nothing and know nothing?

Because they are still afraid of a direct confrontation.

 

They understand that unlike the Gabriel Gomez campaign or the Amnesty Bill an attack on the beloved first Pope from Latin America can be considered by many an attack on Latin Americans in general. It can actually create a united “Hispanica“. United against them.

[....lybob]

You're a hard case. Lets try again.

 

Is Bill offended BECAUSE retailers are saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Xmas" or is he offended by WHY retailers have made the shift? Is he angry about how these retailers are exercising free speech or is he angry that they're being pressured not to? If Bill is taking exception with retailers who have dropped any mention of Xmas from their marketing, is it because he needs his Xmas fix or is it because they kowtowed to an obnoxious and tiny minority?

 

Don't let me down.

"kowtowed to an obnoxious and tiny minority" you mean retailers evolved sales strategies given market forces in a way they thought would be most profitable - like they always do

[IDBillzFan]

"kowtowed to an obnoxious and tiny minority" you mean retailers evolved sales strategies given market forces in a way they thought would be most profitable - like they always do

 

This is going to be difficult for you to understand, but in the end, believers in Christ have a hard time understanding why non-believers find it so necessary to always whine about celebrating the birth of Christ and fight to remove the word Christmas from pretty much everything...right before they buy their Christmas tree, hang their Christmas stockings, eat their Christmas feasts, and open their Christmas presents on a paid day off known as Christmas.

 

If you don't believe in celebrating the birth of Christ, here's an idea. Don't. Go to work...no one is stopping you. Skip the event. No one is forcing you to participate.

 

Just ignore it and the followers of Christ will do the same to you.

 

But no. Non-believers take the parts they like and openly criticize the parts they don't. Any wonder most non-believers are liberals.

[....lybob]

This is going to be difficult for you to understand, but in the end, believers in Christ have a hard time understanding why non-believers find it so necessary to always whine about celebrating the birth of Christ and fight to remove the word Christmas from pretty much everything...right before they buy their Christmas tree, hang their Christmas stockings, eat their Christmas feasts, and open their Christmas presents on a paid day off known as Christmas.

 

If you don't believe in celebrating the birth of Christ, here's an idea. Don't. Go to work...no one is stopping you. Skip the event. No one is forcing you to participate.

 

Just ignore it and the followers of Christ will do the same to you.

 

But no. Non-believers take the parts they like and openly criticize the parts they don't. Any wonder most non-believers are liberals.

That's hilarious - good for you

[birdog1960]

Back to Pope Francis

Yes, lets go back to some things he said: http://www.bbc.co.uk...europe-25102720. he also warns the rising global economic inequality is bound to explode in conflict. "Today we also have to say "i shalt not" to an economy of exclusion and inequality. such any economy kills". couldn't agree more. rock on Frank!

[Alaska Darin]

Yes, lets go back to some things he said: http://www.bbc.co.uk...europe-25102720. he also warns the rising global economic inequality is bound to explode in conflict. "Today we also have to say "i shalt not" to an economy of exclusion and inequality. such any economy kills". couldn't agree more. rock on Frank!

I tell you what, Sir Pope. I'm all in as soon as the Catholics stop building billion dollar edifices and instead use the money for the causes that are supposedly important.

 

WWJD?

[birdog1960]

I tell you what, Sir Pope. I'm all in as soon as the Catholics stop building billion dollar edifices and instead use the money for the causes that are supposedly important.

 

WWJD?

i think that's exactly what Francis is asking. and he's calling for radical change in the church, especially the us church. he's practicing what he preaches, too. lives humbly and avoids pomp and extravagance. now, whether the us bishops will ignore him is another question. i've yet to see many of his unfiltered words in the weekly "Catholic Virginian" newspaper for example. there's even a previously appointed fox news correspondent acting as papal press sec to the us (appointed before Francis). reading about him he seems a reasonable guy but still not much coverage on the controversial stuff Francis has simply and overtly stated, in the us mainstream Catholic press. perhaps he'll see the light. Edited November 27, 2013 by birdog1960

[DC Tom]

This is going to be difficult for you to understand, but in the end, believers in Christ have a hard time understanding why non-believers find it so necessary to always whine about celebrating the birth of Christ and fight to remove the word Christmas from pretty much everything...right before they buy their Christmas tree, hang their Christmas stockings, eat their Christmas feasts, and open their Christmas presents on a paid day off known as Christmas.

 

If you don't believe in celebrating the birth of Christ, here's an idea. Don't. Go to work...no one is stopping you. Skip the event. No one is forcing you to participate.

 

Just ignore it and the followers of Christ will do the same to you.

 

But no. Non-believers take the parts they like and openly criticize the parts they don't. Any wonder most non-believers are liberals.

 

That's easy: non-believers turn "non-belief" into a religious belief all its own.

 

True non-believers simply don't give a ****. I don't have to run around telling people invisible pink unicorns don't exist, either.

[Alaska Darin]

i think that's exactly what Francis is asking. and he's calling for radical change in the church, especially the us church. he's practicing what he preaches, too. lives humbly and avoids pomp and extravagance. now, whether the us bishops will ignore him is another question. i've yet to see many of his unfiltered words in the weekly "Catholic Virginian" newspaper for example. there's even a previously appointed fox news correspondent acting as papal press sec to the us (appointed before Francis). reading about him he seems a reasonable guy but still not much coverage on the controversial stuff Francis has simply and overtly stated, in the us mainstream Catholic press. perhaps he'll see the light.

I know what he's calling for and I know he's a different cat. I hardly need YOUR help. I also know that leaders like to make promises/ask for things they can't possibly deliver on. That's EXACTLY why I don't need YOUR help.

[Jauronimo]

"kowtowed to an obnoxious and tiny minority" you mean retailers evolved sales strategies given market forces in a way they thought would be most profitable - like they always do

Yes, like when immigrants change their names to sound more "American" to avoid having their stores trashed by an obnoxious and hateful minority. Its just profit maximizing.

[Azalin]

"kowtowed to an obnoxious and tiny minority" you mean retailers evolved sales strategies given market forces in a way they thought would be most profitable - like they always do

I think this may be the first time I've ever heard a 'tiny minority' described as a 'market force'.

[birdog1960]

the more i read, the more i like: http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/11/26/evangelii_gauddium_pope_francis_vs_libertarian_economics.html. "when the earnings of a minority is growing exponentially, so is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by the happy few. this imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute asutonomy of the marketplace and financial growth. consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. a new tyranny is thus born, invisiblle and often virtual, which unilateraly imposes its own rules."

 

not much wiggle room for interpretation there.

[IDBillzFan]

the more i read, the more i like: http://www.slate.com..._economics.html. "when the earnings of a minority is growing exponentially, so is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by the happy few. this imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute asutonomy of the marketplace and financial growth. consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. a new tyranny is thus born, invisiblle and often virtual, which unilateraly imposes its own rules."

 

not much wiggle room for interpretation there.

 

Does this mean all liberals will now accept Christ as their savior, or are they all just accepting the one little bit from a man of Christ because it fits your ideology?

[B-Man]

"when the earnings of a minority is growing exponentially

 

some wish to interpret the Pontiff's words as strictly a rebuke of "the Rich" and capitalism,

 

 

the earnings of the minority could just as certainly apply to a "political/ruling class" of an oppressive government.

 

 

 

 

 

.

Pope Francis and Poverty

 

 

If there is anyone in the world today who embodies the joy of the Christian Gospel, it is Jorge Mario Bergoglio. And the happiness offered by embracing and living true faith in Christ and His Church (rather than the vapid sentimentalism that often passes for love these days) permeates Pope Francis’s new (and rather long) “apostolic exhortation,” Evangelii Gaudium, from beginning to end. Reading the text, one does experience a profound sense of just how life-transforming belief in Christ should be.

 

Evangelii Gaudium is in many ways a beautiful document. The emphasis upon the Trinity’s most neglected member — the Holy Spirit — in the Church’s life is especially inspiring. Then there are the practical insights about how to breathe life into aspects of the Church’s evangelical outreach that have long been moribund (as in the content-free homilies routinely endured by many Catholics in Western countries). Also helpful for theological reflection, as well as an outline for an agenda of internal reform, are Francis’s comments on how to develop greater collegiality between Rome and what Catholics call the local churches.

 

{snip}

 

My critique is by no means intended to imply that all of Pope Francis’s observations about economic life are naïve or simply mistaken. As it happens, he says several things that will resonate with those who favor free enterprise and markets. The pope states, for instance, that welfare projects should be seen as “temporary responses” (202) and warns against the “welfare mentality” (204). Evangelii Gaudium extols “free” and “creative” work (192). Francis also affirms that business “is a noble vocation” that serves “the common good by striving to increase the goods of this world and to make them more accessible to all” (203).

 

 

 

 

.

Edited November 27, 2013 by B-Man

[4merper4mer]

Does this mean all liberals will now accept Christ as their savior, or are they all just accepting the one little bit from a man of Christ because it fits your ideology?

 

Pope Francis' latest apostolic exhortation covers a number of topics, but really lights into libertarian economics. There's a lot of stuff about Jesus in his thinking that I can't really sign on to but

 

Above are the first couple of lines of the article so my guess is nope.

[Jauronimo]

the more i read, the more i like: http://www.slate.com..._economics.html. "when the earnings of a minority is growing exponentially, so is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by the happy few. this imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute asutonomy of the marketplace and financial growth. consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. a new tyranny is thus born, invisiblle and often virtual, which unilateraly imposes its own rules."

 

not much wiggle room for interpretation there.

Should we also do away with abortion and contraception? Francis didn't leave much wiggle room on those issues either.

 

Since when is the Pope an authority on economics and finance?

[TPS]

 

 

I just say "Merry Christmakwanzukah!" and piss off everybody.

that was funny.

[TakeYouToTasker]

I'm curious about the Pope's interpretation.

 

Christ himself, based on the Christian belief system, was all-powerful and capable of creating miracles. Yet even with his devine powers did not force other men to his will. He simply instructed others that it was his desire that they should give; without compelling them by force.

 

Given the gift of free will by God, men are allowed to please or displease Him as they see fit.

 

Given that Christ himself did not compell men by force to do his bidding, what makes any man think that this is God's desire for them?

[TPS]

the more i read, the more i like: http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/11/26/evangelii_gauddium_pope_francis_vs_libertarian_economics.html. "when the earnings of a minority is growing exponentially, so is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by the happy few. this imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute asutonomy of the marketplace and financial growth. consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. a new tyranny is thus born, invisiblle and often virtual, which unilateraly imposes its own rules."

 

not much wiggle room for interpretation there.

sounds like he's describing the TPP.

http://rt.com/usa/wikileaks-tpp-ip-dotcom-670/