Qanon is evidence that we cannot trust any writings about Jesus or other religions

[TigressDem]

28. I hear you about horrible things that have been done in the name of religion or "God"

HOWEVER, both Christian and Eastern teachings as well as Native Beliefs are about finding a way to be a better person at the heart of the teachings.

The number of times people have looked to their faith to find strength to do the right this is not easily calculated, but it needs to count for something here on DU. All I want as a Christian is to be cut a little slack by people I am standing in the trenches with trying to make the world a better place. I don't run around questioning WHY anyone else is standing up for JUSTICE here. I'm just glad people here ARE looking to do the right thing for our country and each other. When someone slaps me in the face with Qanon just because I'm a Christian, it really sucks.


MAYBE it boils down to "What Good Has The Church Done?" It is a long list.

Just the Roman Catholic Church, with all it's failings (The Crusades, The Inquisition, The Borgias, the fight over abortion) has HELPED bring about things WE take for granted by being a HUGE support in various areas.



Do you believe in/support:

Helping the poor, widows, orphans?

Trying to help people reform when they have made awful mistakes?

The early Roman Catholic Church brought these ideas to their time period.

https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/what-has-catholic-church-ever-done-for-us-4199150-Aug2018/


Do you believe in/support:

Hospitals treating everyone, not just the rich?

Universities dedicated to higher learning?

The Church supported these institutions and thought science could help us better understand God.

Obviously there have been disagreements about that along the way, but there has also been mutual support on both sides too.

Do you believe in/support:

The fundamental equality of all human beings and the sanctity of life?

The Church many on this board love to hate actually worked to end infanticide (usually directed against baby girls), a father’s power of life and death over his family, gladiatorial “shows”, and the disfigurement of criminals.

The Church has fought against slavery. In the US BEFORE it was the US, the influence of the Church in St Augustine, Florida helped many escape from slavery.

Was it a perfect solution? No. BUT it was forward thinking for that time period.

https://theconversation.com/what-catholic-church-records-tell-us-about-americas-earliest-black-history-109709


Do you believe in/support:

Women's rights?


The Church’s teaching in relation to marriage, adultery, polygamy, male responsibility, and the dignity of wives, girls, widows, celibates and orphans massively improved the standing of women in society, while virtually nowhere else in the ancient world could communities of women self-govern as they did within the Church.


https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/what-has-catholic-church-ever-done-for-us-4199150-Aug2018/


Do you believe in/support:

Rights of the disabled?

The Church fought against the Eugenics Movement which sought to sterilize people who might breed “undesirable” traits, such as pauperism, mental disability, dwarfism, promiscuity, and criminality.

https://www.nature.com/scitable/forums/genetics-generation/america-s-hidden-history-the-eugenics-movement-123919444/


Do you believe in/support:

Due Process? The law in general?

The first integrated legal system in the world appeared with the Church’s canon law of the 12th century. Its development introduced to the world the idea of human rights; formalized and insisted upon due process; decreed consent as necessary for marriage; required criminal intent as a component of criminal responsibility; and popularized the ideas of equity and justice as central to law and authority. Canon law’s affirmation of property rights and the logic of contract laid crucial foundations for market economics which has helped raise livings standards generation on generation.

International law originated with Church theology and advocacy in the 16th century and its first contribution was to insist on the natural rights of native populations in the “new world”

https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1720&context=tcl


Do you believe in/support:

Human Dignity?

In the 20th century the Church provided one of the few forces of resistance within societies overtaken by the atheistic regimes of Russian Communism and German National Socialism.

Both attempted to destroy the Church, creating tens of thousands of martyrs in the process. It was the Church that popularized the idea of “human dignity” as a response to these murderous totalitarianisms.

It is the root of why they are against abortion and suicide. We still need separation of Church and State, but there ARE points WE CAN agree upon.

https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/c/Catholic_social_teaching.htm