Pope's state visit to the UK thread

[Madalch]

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p297/ldl21/pope.jpg

No comment needed.

I'm sure, that with so many people watching, he put it back.

 

[Debaser]

I'm sure, that with so many people watching, he put it back.

You know, there have been so many kids thrust into his arms I'm beginning to wonder if it's not some ongoing stunt by Peter Tatchell and friends.

 

[Undesired Walrus]

At the same time:

Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are leading a global decline in new HIV infections, the UN has said.

UNAids said 22 countries in the world's worst affected region had seen a drop in new cases of more than 25%.

The fall was because of greater awareness and better use of preventative measures, it said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11347172

I'm guessing that's not abstinence.

 

[Delscottio]

Terrorist attack suspected. People arrested.

I might be late on this but a woman who lives literally over the road was arrested over this. Apperently she told some one she'd love to slit his throat but wouldn't get close enough. Police raided her house and found train tickets to london and a replica hand gun (i presume it had sharp edges).

 

[zooterkin]

After apparently misquoting Dawkins (saying that he compared Roman Catholics to Nazis) the Guardian has published a speech by him responding to the comments from the Rat about "atheist extremism".

Even if Hitler had been an atheist – as Joseph Stalin more surely was – how dare Ratzinger suggest that atheism has any connection whatsoever with their horrific deeds? Any more than Hitler and Stalin's non-belief in leprechauns or unicorns. Any more than their sporting of a moustache – along with Francisco Franco and Saddam Hussein. There is no logical pathway from atheism to wickedness.

Unless, that is, you are steeped in the vile obscenity at the heart of Catholic theology. I refer (and I am indebted to Paula Kirby for the point) to the doctrine of original sin. These people believe – and they teach this to tiny children, at the same time as they teach them the terrifying falsehood of hell – that every baby is "born in sin". That would be Adam's sin, by the way: Adam who, as they themselves now admit, never existed

ETA: I think it bears repeating exactly what the Pope said about atheism, or even secularism:

"Even in our own lifetime, we can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews, who were thought unfit to live. As we reflect on the sobering lessons of atheist extremism of the 20th century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society and thus a reductive vision of a person and his destiny."