I don't pretend to know his mind, but I think there's a difference between deserting and deserting a cause you don't support. Many Germans were anti-Nazi. In the last days of the war, my grandfather told me the Wehrmacht was kept from retreating or deserting by the SS, who where charged with shooting them rather than Allied soldiers.
I disagree with the Pope's position as well. However, I don't believe he's a dipshit. On the other hand, Roland Martin has proven himself to be one over and over and over again.
A) Not all Christians believe birth control is always wrong. B) In the 1970s, leading Catholic theologians reviewed the church's stand on this issue, and concluded IT WAS WRONG. Pope Paul VI forbid any discussion of the issue, and threatened the scholars with dire punishment if they ever brought it up again. The notion that he might be wrong and his fellow Christians (protestants) might be right was seen as blasphemey. This is the kind of over-reaction that helps drive thinking people - myself included- away from the church. (Not to mention fueling the rumors over the death of Pope John-Paul I)
When my wife and I were married, we were married in a Catholic ceremony. Religion is important to her and I'm as agnostic as one gets. So, pretty much I didn't really care. Anyhoo, we were married outside of a church which meant that we couldn't be married by someone directly under the control of the Archdiocese of Denver (a really conservative one). Instead we were married by this guy: http://www.freewebs.com/apriestcelebrates/ Father Marty is top notch. Just a terrific guy who was more than happy and willing to discuss issues of faith with me. In our meetings with him before we were married, he told us about the politics behind the Church's move to orthodoxy. He said that Rome would rather have 500M hard core believers than 1.5B practitioners of the faith. He furthermore said that the people entering the seminary today were vetted politically more than spritually. He said that the impact was that he and like-minded former priests have been deluged with requests from Catholics to perform their own masses and create their own ministries. As such, he is concerned about the future of the Church in the US. Like I said, I know squat about the Catholic Church, your post just reminded me of a previous conversation.
Hell it looks like we sure could use some condoms here in the states too http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ReproductiveHealth/wireStory?id=7111878
Don't you know that the pope IS HITLER? Duh, you know all them spare-a-mints they was doing huh LUCY? He changed bodies with a young kid and somehow became the pope. What a life, they should make a movie about it. I wonder how the pope would stop the distribution of condoms in Africa? Hijack a cargo plane? Buy up all the latex manufacturers? I hate to sound horrible, but I am so I will just say it. I don't want them to stop the spread of HIV, I just want them to keep it from becoming easier to contract.
Yes it is. The Catholic Church however, does not share your beliefs in freedom, be they speech or choice. This alone makes them dipshits.
A lot of non-Jews don't know rites of passage for Jews. I am a non-Catholic who does not know rites of passage for Catholics. I admitted it, while you made accusations against me for referencing Hitler Youth, claiming it was slander. Required my ass! Some people showed consciences, they left the country. And of course my relatives had no choice. I was not ignorant or disingenuous. I see no reason to believe a reluctant young man was forced into something he did not want to do. If the pope had been 6 I could say he was too young to know better. At 14 he damn well was not. He just revoked the excommunication of a Holocaust denier. Let's just say I am unforgiving of mass murder. A couple of comments on the discussion: Free speech is not the issue. Anyone has the legal right to say things that are stupid, factually incorrect, or flat out evil. But no one is exempt from criticism. And some would say it is irresponsible for a world leader, which the pope is, to say things that are stupid, factually incorrect, or flat out evil. In some African countries, Christian clergy have destroyed shipments of condoms in order to stop their use. That is the influence of words like the pope's. Now, if the pope said that married heterosexuals could have sex with their spouses in marriage while the rest of us should remain celibate forever, that would just be his opinion. I'd sure disagree, as Bristol Palin said, abstinence for all is not realistic. But it would be just his opinion. He did not say that, he said condoms don't stop spread of AIDS and may make it worse. In other words, he explicitly condemned what has been proven very effective in slowing an epidemic and saving lives. That was stupid, factually wrong, and evil. A case scenario. Let's say a man (could be a woman, but say a man) has been very promiscuous. But he decides to settle down and marry. His wife is pregant and he discovers he is HIV+. Fortunately, his wife was not infected so she and her child are safe. What should he do, assuming the woman does not throw him out on his ear? Well, he has 2 choices. One is to take anti-retrovirals, accept that he and his wife will have no more biological children, adopt another child, and practice safe sex to keep his wife safe. But if he minded the pope, he would not use condoms. His wife would stand a high risk of infection, and of having an infected child. Does that sound moral? And if the case sounds familiar, it should be. It's the story of Magic Johnson, who chose option #1. Personally I think that shows a lot more morals than option #2.
14 is pretty young and it is pretty easy for someone that young to be scared and not know what to do.
If he would've minded what the Pope believes, the significantly-low odds are that wouldn't have had HIV in the first place. For every Ryan White, there're millions of promiscuous people who got hurt playing Sexual Russian Roulette.
And let's just say that I have an entire side of my family buried in a mass grave outside of Minsk with bullets in their head, so save me the Holocaust victim bullshit--you're not the only one.
Or more likely it would be the third option that the Pope is really talking about: Don't have sex until you're married, and if you were promiscuous, suffered the consequences, and your wife forgave you - simply do not engage in sexual acts if you pose risk to another person. The Pope's idea of no condoms may not be realistic in this day and age, but it doesn't mean he is dumb or suggesting having sex with multiple people without condoms. He's simply proposing that you follow the Bible - you know something a member of the clergy should probably be preaching.
