Pope Urges Mankind To Choose Religion Over Science & Progress

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[Beating Dead Horses]
Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday warned modern societies not to let faith in science and technology make them deaf to God's message, and suggested that Asia and Africa could teach the wealthier West something about faith.

In his sermon to some 250,000 pilgrims at an open-air Mass in Munich, Benedict said modern people suffered from "hardness of hearing" when it comes to God.

"Put simply, we are no longer able to hear God - there are too many different frequencies filling our ears," he said. "What is said about God strikes us as pre-scientific, no longer suited to our age."

Hey, maybe the Pope finally gets it. When you live in a jungle or desert and have little to do but wake up each day and be surprised you're not dead from starvation or disease, you have to thank God. Everywhere else, where man understands the value of science and medicine to extend life and provide protection and security, the notion of believing in a supernatural being who never seems to be there when you need him, and giving money to a group of old guys who use it to pay off secret sex abuse lawsuits, might be obsolete.

It's no surprise that religion flourishes where human suffering is rampant. The pope points that out with a perverse sense of romanticism. Think about it.

"People in Asia and Africa admire our scientific and technical progress, but at the same time they are frightened by a form of rationality which totally excludes God from man's vision, as if this were the highest form of reason."

Benedict, on the second day of a six-day homecoming trip to his native Bavaria, rode in his popemobile through a cheering crowd to say Mass atop a platform in a sprawling field on the outskirts of Munich, where he served as archbishop from 1977 to 1982.

People waved yellow and white Vatican flags and blue and white Bavarian ones, while Mexican, Croatian, Slovak and Polish banners also fluttered above the crowd. Munich police spokesman Peter Reichl said the crowd numbered around 250,000.

The need for Western Europe to return to its Christian roots is one of Benedict's favorite themes, and he is repeating it during his visit to his native country - home to a shrinking and liberal Catholic Church and a highly secularized society. Over 100,000 people leave the German church every year, and only about 14 percent attend Mass on an average Sunday.

Benedict gently rebuked the German church for putting social service projects and technical assistance to the poor ahead of spreading the Christian message. African bishops, he said, told him all doors were open to them in Germany when they wanted to talk about aid projects, but added they were greeted with reservations when it came to evangelization.

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Why would Germans leave the Church?
Posted by wizeGurl on 2006-09-10 13:02:12
It might not be so surprising that so many people leave the German Catholic Church every year. If you list a religion on your tax forms in Germany, the government takes out an additional 8-9% of what you pay in income taxes as a "church tax" and gives it to the church you've identified. This tax is not optional in any way, and if you're an official Church member, you will be paying it. (This is true for all official church affiliations, not just Catholics.)

I wonder how many Americans would still be official church members if they knew it would result in an automatic tax increase?
Benedict Makes Me Laugh
Posted by MS on 2006-09-10 17:30:32
"Benedict gently rebuked the German church for putting social service projects and technical assistance to the poor ahead of spreading the Christian message."

I think that the German priests understand that you can "buy people off" with social service projects and technical assistance.

While I believe in God and Christ, I don't believe in the Church-- unless "the Church" means "the body of Christ."

I read a book that claimed that the Catholic church went after the Jesuits because they were too generous and "communistic."

Certainly, as Africa and Asia gain more wealth, they'll forget about "god's blessings" too and realize that oppression is where it's at.
Posted by Pile on 2006-09-11 09:07:55
That's a great idea... since churches in the states don't pay taxes, their parishoners should do it for them. Then of course, the first thing the religious people will do is scream that atheism is a religion too.
 

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