Yes, yes, yes! You nailed it, in my opinion. This has been on my mind for such a long time. Tolerance isn’t enough. People won’t stand for anything but approval.
I get what the image is trying to say, that the Church hating certain actions does not translate into it hating the person who does them; but there is one section that struck me as inaccurate:
Person: Because you want to control me.
Catholic Church: No. You are free to do what you want.
Nowadays that is true, but in its history that has rarely been the case. We can look at the treatment of Christians who have disagreed with one or more tenets of Catholicism (and please don't cite the canard that heretics of Catholicism are by default violent). We can look at all of the restrictions of the Jewish people in Cum nimis absurdum, whose first line was "Since it is absurd and utterly inconvenient that the Jews, who through their own fault were condemned by God to eternal slavery." If you asked the people of the Canary Islands in the 15th century some would have like said they wanted to maintain their faith while also not being enslaved. With bulls like Creator omnium and Sicut dudum that the Church was more than fine with the Portuguese enslaving those unchristian natives, but only interceded when they were also enslaving those natives who were baptized or planned to. Going to more modern times the Catholic Church endorsed Comstock laws which restricted actions of all U.S. citizens, including those who were not Catholic.
There's no denying the Catholic Church has done great good in the world, but it's undeniable that the Church's endorsement of personal and religious freedom is inversely proportional to its earthly power at the time. Thankfully at this time that power is at its low ebb.
STEVE RAY HERE: I agree and disagree. We can always point to Catholics who have failed to live up to the teachings of Holy Church — and this includes Popes and bishops. But the bottom line is, that there are always sinners and sinful acts even within the Church.
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Yes, yes, yes! You nailed it, in my opinion. This has been on my mind for such a long time. Tolerance isn’t enough. People won’t stand for anything but approval.
I get what the image is trying to say, that the Church hating certain actions does not translate into it hating the person who does them; but there is one section that struck me as inaccurate:
Person: Because you want to control me.
Catholic Church: No. You are free to do what you want.
Nowadays that is true, but in its history that has rarely been the case. We can look at the treatment of Christians who have disagreed with one or more tenets of Catholicism (and please don't cite the canard that heretics of Catholicism are by default violent). We can look at all of the restrictions of the Jewish people in Cum nimis absurdum, whose first line was "Since it is absurd and utterly inconvenient that the Jews, who through their own fault were condemned by God to eternal slavery." If you asked the people of the Canary Islands in the 15th century some would have like said they wanted to maintain their faith while also not being enslaved. With bulls like Creator omnium and Sicut dudum that the Church was more than fine with the Portuguese enslaving those unchristian natives, but only interceded when they were also enslaving those natives who were baptized or planned to. Going to more modern times the Catholic Church endorsed Comstock laws which restricted actions of all U.S. citizens, including those who were not Catholic.
There's no denying the Catholic Church has done great good in the world, but it's undeniable that the Church's endorsement of personal and religious freedom is inversely proportional to its earthly power at the time. Thankfully at this time that power is at its low ebb.
STEVE RAY HERE: I agree and disagree. We can always point to Catholics who have failed to live up to the teachings of Holy Church — and this includes Popes and bishops. But the bottom line is, that there are always sinners and sinful acts even within the Church.
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