[J m HofMarN]

Because its am artificial means of tampering with gods brilliant plan to get us in trouble if we have premarital sex. It also kills what could eventually become little babies. The catholics have gone to insane lengths to try to discredit condoms, which is why aids continues to be such a problem.

[Madam Corvax]

Yeah, that about sums it up. I can only add, that birth control gives women the freedom to have sex when they want and with who they want and not get pregnant, and this is something that certain men who are senile from the very birth won't allow, because it has always been a privilege of men.

Freedom for women is something that monotheism is basically against (there is only one god, god is male, therefore female is inferior, therefore it should be opressed by every means possible).

If you want to agrue, ok, I haven't had a good fight for a long time, and I'm in a proper belligerent mood to defend my opinion.

[Zatoichi]

Having it ingrained in my head all of these years, I envision God as a man. But, He can change his sexual orientation at will (or have none at all). It is either that, or a pillar of cloud with bright light and lighning shooting forth. Also, on the whole I believe that men are much more proactive, but women are more like the power behind the throne (this is only a generalization of course).

[Slade]

Hey! What about matriarchial societys and religions?

I'd like to argue in favor of Eris, but she's part of a panetheon. Neo-pagan poythestic and all that... Though she's completely in favor of equality of the sexes. And I don't mean those double standards that are in place right now, eitherfnord.

[Zatoichi]

I said it was a generalization, and comparitively how many of each could you find?

Yeah, double standards suck. Unfortunately many of those are ingrained as well. Very difficult for me to stray from that path. Many times I don't like the way things should be.

[miketis]

I believe in God, and I'm Christian.

[Otal Nimrodi]

One of the criteria, I'm told.

[Patrick Bateman]

Birth control enables woman to wrench back some power regarding sex and sexuality, which of course is not good ... therefore we must insist on NO birth control ... and of course the misionary position which gives woman little satisfaction and puts man on top, where he belongs.
Long live Jesus etc.

[barend]

WHAT?

the catholics area against birth controll because no BC means more people born in catho families, and that means more members and that means more money!!!

and mo money means...

POWER! UNLIMITED POWER!!!!11!!!1

[Otal Nimrodi]

Almonds.

[Despondent]

You don't have to be catholic to believe in God. Sounds like you have a problem with the church.

That's different.

This post has been edited by Despondent: 23 August 2005 - 11:08 PM

[Zatoichi]

Yeah, I'm definitely not a fan of the Catholic Church. Look at their operation. They may do a lot of charitable acts, but it doesn't even put a dint into their wealth. As an example, during the Dark Ages, many worshipers were starving poor people, whilst members of the clergy lived richly and had their places of worship bedecked in gold and silver. Can anyone tell me what is right about that?

At the church I serve at, donations pay the bills or end up benefiting the people who worship there. We do several large (for us) charitable acts a year. Everyone generally gets along and has a good time. Both of the priests do a good job and keep the sermons interesting to listen to. We also do quite a lot of singing as part of the service, where most of the time everyone sings, and for the rest it is our choir (All of which sing quite well). As one of the senior altar servers, I am usually up there every week. I know I don't actually need to go to church, but it serves as a nice weekly reminder/update/fun thing to do/good place to pray. If I didn't enjoy it I wouldn't be going. Also, nobody really tells me that such and such is the way things are and that's final. It leaves much room for interpretation. My pastor focuses on things that he believes will help people to improve their lives, both spiritually and physically.

I know, its a bit rambly.

[Otal Nimrodi]

Sounds like you have a problem with the church.

Me... Yeah, that's about right. But

You don't have to be catholic to believe in God

I was saying you have to believe in god to be catholic, or I think you get excommunicated. Or is that voting democrat?

Edit: Holy Frak, my computer went all woogy,

This post has been edited by Otal Nimrodi: 24 August 2005 - 06:02 AM

[Jordan]

Dark ages were a time of bloody conflict between factions, violence was not reserved for the church.

Furthermore, the majority of northern barbarian tribes were converted by missionaries, not the sword.

Furthermore Christianity brought with it educated scholar monks which helped lay the basis for the Renaissance in Europe. Dark Ages is a pathetic label for that time frame, many historians only use it since it's stuck with society, but it was a vibrant time for early European ancestors.

Atheists love to shit on the early church and ignore their roots. Oh those catholics killing everything on site! Missionaries delivered the word in a peaceful manner. it was later kings and rulers who delivered it with a sword. To bad you people are to stupid to notice that kings and rulers have always delivered their 'message' with arms.

Christian monks of the time were scholars in sciences and arts. THey left records for us to look at now. Most of the science back in the day was fueled by religous fervor (mayans, romans, greeks, christians, and muslisms).

Stop shitting on your past and making religous types out to be bloody monsters. THey are responsible for shaping the world YOU live in today. They moved foreward and were not mindless morons who loved to strap people with whips. They were educated and expanded the borders of civilization.

This post has been edited by Jordan: 24 August 2005 - 12:07 PM

[Madam Corvax]

Jordan, you got things mixed up. It is the advent of Christianity that defied the ancient greek rationalism, that brought about Dark Ages.

That a couple of monks pored over Aristotle does not change the fact that other Ancient Greek writers and philosophers were banned and destroyed.

It is not the monks who brought about the Reneissance, either, I am sorry, but it is the most ridiculous statement I've heard recently. If anything, it was the desctuction of Byzantice Empire, because it forced some refugees from Byzantium to go West, and bring with them books preserved from Ancient Greece.

Eit: "Atheist love to shit on early church". Well, if you call scholary research "shitting", yeah, then you are right. Otherwise I don't know why would I shit the early church any more than the present.

This post has been edited by Madam Corvax: 24 August 2005 - 12:15 PM