Catholic Church Collapsing

Evidence is not proof.

None of the evidence, taken individually or all summed up together, proves that God exists. If it did, people wouldn't be having these discussions.

Much of the evidence now has alternative natural explainations.

Some of the evidence lacks, well, physical evidence, documentation, or corroboration.

And again again again, a lack of a known natural explaination is not proof of a supernatural explaination.

Quote: Dalex64

None of the evidence, taken individually or all summed up together, proves that God exists. If it did, people wouldn't be having these discussions. Much of the evidence now has alternative natural explainations.

And again again again, a lack of a known natural explaination is not proof of a supernatural explaination.

If god existed and produced this kind
of existence, he would be a cruel trickster.
He makes himself impossible to find, allows
horrible things to happen on a large scale,
in his name, and totally ignores his followers. I like
the god that doesn't exist much better
than a horrible god like that.

Quote: Dalex64

Evidence is not proof.

There can be no proof without evidence.

In the case of deities, there is no evidence at all.

Quote:

And again again again, a lack of a known natural explaination is not proof of a supernatural explaination.

That's all they have left. Decades or centuries from now they'll have nothing. Whether they'll accept they have nothing, well, I don't think they ever will. I mean, they have nothing now, and they persist with it. Consider this simple argument:

The universe exists
We don't know why it exists
Therefore everything the Church says it's absolutely true.

Warning graphic post to follow:






According to a Great Courses lecture series on the French Revolution, in the original "Little Red Riding Hood" tale the wolf kills the grandmother, slices her flesh and drains her blood into a bottle. When the girl arrives, the wolf disguised as the grandmother offers her meat and wine. You can guess what she eats.

Now, it strikes me the wolf is a symbol and not a real wolf. Since he eats the girl (no happy ending in the original), it struck me at once the wolf stands for a Seigneur, a French feudal lord. It's so glaringly obvious it hardly seems worthwhile to point it out.

But what about tricking Red Riding Hood into eating her grandmother's flesh and drinking her blood? It could be mere cruelty, which would be expected in a feudal master. But it could also be a knock on the Catholic practice of consuming the flesh and blood of the Jesus. Remember France was divided into three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and everyone else (ie, those who pray, those who fight, and those who work).

Much as the third estate paid inordinate amounts of money and produce to the nobility, they also owed the church a tithe. The Revolution, when it came, was as much against the privileges of the clergy as that of the nobles.

I should check out other original fairy tales.

Quote:

Pope Francis is preparing to make a saint of a controversial 18th century missionary who converted thousands of Native Americans to Catholicism.

The ceremony will take place Wednesday at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, marking the first canonization on U.S soil.

Francis has praised the missionary, Junipero Serra, who spread Christianity through what is now California, as "the evangelizer of the Western United States" and a "founding father" of the country. But many Native Americans say he destroyed their ancestors' traditions and culture, spreading disease and enslaving converts.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pope-francis-visits-america/pope-francis-prepares-make-saint-controversial-missionary-n432506

Quote: rxwine

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/pope-francis-visits-america/pope-francis-prepares-make-saint-controversial-missionary-n432506

Good grief, this is more stupidity by the Church.

Francis has said: "I say this to you with regret: Many grave sins were committed against the native people of America in the name of God," he said. "I humbly ask forgiveness, not only for the offense of the church herself, but also for crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called conquest of America."

An understatement if there ever was one. This
new saint was a monster.

"Serra would brutally beat and whip men, women and children in order to force obedience among the Indians. Castillo also writes that Serra celebrated the demise of Indian children, referring to their deaths as a "harvest."

The new saints crimes against humanity are endless
and well documented. Of course the Church says
oh well, he was a man of the times he lived in. It
was OK to be a monster doing gods work if everybody
else was doing it too. Now he's a 'saint'? What an
awful church.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/23/opinions/smith-junipero-serra-no-saint/

Back to the title of this thread, the Church
is indeed collapsing. In NYC it's out of control,
and it's a mirror of the rest of the country.
There are a lot of Catholics in NYC, but only
12.5% of them go to mass. This means the
churches are going broke because the members
aren't filling the offering plates.

This has caused the Church to regularly close
churches entirely, they closed 31 just last month.
There are 40% fewer priests and 65% nuns than
just 40 years ago, yet there are more Catholics
than ever. But it's in name only, they have no
interest in attending mass or being active in the
religion. Only 10% go to confession, when 50
years ago it was almost 100%. If these aren't
signs of a dying religion, what is.

The diocese is so desperate for money, they
will selling be off the church properties in NYC
just to stay afloat. They are worth billions, one
particular church and it's campus is valued
at $100 mil. Their interest is in 'puffing up'
the image of the dying Catholic system and
making it look to outsiders that a crisis is not
happening. Good luck with that. The pope
should be more concerned with this than the
phony baloney non crisis of global warming.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/424552/pope-francis-new-york-archdiocese-decline

They had enough money to purchase the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA.

Quote: Wizard

They had enough money to purchase the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA.

The Church has billions in assets to get loans
with, they are just cash poor.

Quote: Wizard

They had enough money to purchase the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA.

So much for camels, needles and rich men.

Don't get me wrong, What Jesus said was immoral. But I lack any respect for hypocrites.