SHOCKER! "Avatar" Angers the Pope

[Encephalon]

Edited January 13, 2010 by Blasto

[Encephalon]

Yes indeed, the Abrahamic tradition has done such a marvelous job of solving all the horrible problems created by naturalistic worldviews. Or, as Gary Snyder once said, "Otherworldy philosophies end up doing more damage to the planet (and human psyches) than the pain and suffering that is in the existential conditions they seek to transcend."

[fizix]

I expect no less from the bastids.

[effilang]

Sounds like they have no idea what they are talking about..

 

Not much u can expect from narrow minded people other than narrow minded and defensive views.

[SeriesOfTubes]

[Biff]

Fuck the pope. He can smoke a pole.

[Boris the Blade]

[Biff]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Aetherous]

Boris, that video was great.

 

...

 

In all seriousness, I kind of like Christianity. It teaches good things (much better than not being raised with any morality at all)...although a lot of the time these Christians completely fuck it up.

 

"You don't believe in 'God'? Well then you should die and burn in eternal hellfire!" Doesn't really match up with what Jesus was all about. But they don't care...it's what they're spoon fed in their misguided churches.

 

I think the pope is spiritually powerful. I heard him speaking in Italian on the radio once during some kundalini craziness, and it really activated me. I had to pull my car over and turn it off, because it was too strong...wasn't grounded at all back then.

 

I think the Catholic church is actually "pagan", and only a few understand the truth of this.

[Dainin]

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name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="

type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[Vajrasattva]

 

 

HAHA well that is a classic case of a "SITH" hiding in among the "SHEEP" and in "ROBES".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a "Jinn" in human form.

[Encephalon]

This really boils down to "Y Axis vs. X Axis." If you live on the Y axis, you subscribe to a top-down authoritarian hierarchy, traditionally patriarchal as well, where you're role in life is determined by a pecking order of subservience; who to take orders from, who to give them to.

 

If you live on the X axis, you share responsibilities not just for yourself and your kin but for the entire web of life. It is an interdependent and participatory experience that eclipses hierarchical authority.

 

The pope may very well be right insofar as many millions are concerned. Most folks cannot get their spiritual juices flowing with commie abstactions like peace, social justice, environmental sustainability. Many people still need a personified deity to feel connected and significant. I concede that Christianity has greater numbers of adherents than Buddhism or Taoism for some very significant reasons.

[Vajrasattva]

ENKI & ENLIL

[Dreamingawake]

Spiritually powerful, yes; good, hell no. a few years ago, when I was deployed in Afghanistan, I had a small group of friends who were all 'sensitive' that used to hang out all the time and play. One girl who hung out with us was always unhappy and had some pains that went went rather deep. One day a chain with a cross on it slipped out of her shirt and as soon as we saw it, Hector (one of my friends) and I immediately started to get the bad vibe and I actually started to feel very ill. Both of us looked at each other and realized the other felt it too. So we tell her to put the damned thing away and asked her where the hell she got it. Turns out her mom had been to Rome and that crucifix was personally blessed by the pope.

 

Anyone who can charge an object to feel so unbearably evil has some BAD MOJO. He is not a good man.

[goldisheavy]

Enjoy your liberty. A Danish cartoonist's life has been threatened for much less raucous material.

 

Go to google.com and type the following and observe how Google completes the suggestion:

 

christianity is

 

judaism is

 

buddhism is

 

atheism is

 

islam is

 

Notice what happens when you type "islam is" into Google? Whatever we say about Christianity, but at least they don't try to murder people who make political images of Christians and things Christians hold dear.

Edited January 13, 2010 by goldisheavy

[altiora]

People should read the newspaper article properly. It doesn't say that the Pope criticised the film -- it says The Vatican newspaper and radio station are critical. And then it goes on to detail other peoples' criticism.

 

While I'm not a Papist and don't agree with the Vatican's views on contraception, I think people should show respect for the head of other peoples' faith.

 

And perhaps instead of the puerile pictures posted up here, people should debate the idea about nature worship and why the Vatican might disagree with that. And do so without resorting to "they burnt people" etc.

 

Actually I tend to agree that one has to be very cautious about elevating nature to having some sort of divine status.

 

While I believe nature is divine made and shares in aspects of divinity but, as in the case of humans, there are many features of nature that are not "divine" and worthy of emulation (e.g.., that the strong kill and consume the weak).

 

Trite as it may seem, it is a matter of balance: nature can remind us what is true and beautiful in this world; but we humans have moral faculties and we must use these to ensure that our baser "natural" urges are controlled in the interests of future generations and to help one another when nature shows its nastier side.

 

To me the Na'vi were more "human" and the humans more "nature": the Na'vi used their moral faculties to realise the interconnectedness of nature and to respect it; by contrast the humans were unconstrained by their moral faculties and carried out the baser natural instinct to consume and destroy.

 

 

.

Edited January 13, 2010 by altiora

[innerspace_cadet]

Revering nature is not the same as worshiping it. Saying that nature is divine would force you to claim that the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that just hit Haiti is divine.

 

Come on, the pope is not all bad.

[Mokona]

Christianaggression.org

 

Because xtians can do no harm according to gih

[Pietro]

Spiritually powerful, yes; good, hell no. a few years ago, when I was deployed in Afghanistan, I had a small group of friends who were all 'sensitive' that used to hang out all the time and play. One girl who hung out with us was always unhappy and had some pains that went went rather deep. One day a chain with a cross on it slipped out of her shirt and as soon as we saw it, Hector (one of my friends) and I immediately started to get the bad vibe and I actually started to feel very ill. Both of us looked at each other and realized the other felt it too. So we tell her to put the damned thing away and asked her where the hell she got it. Turns out her mom had been to Rome and that crucifix was personally blessed by the pope.

 

Anyone who can charge an object to feel so unbearably evil has some BAD MOJO. He is not a good man.

 

Please do not confuse this pope with Christianity.

[Biff]

Please do not confuse this pope with Christianity.

 

Christianity is in the eye of the beholder.

[Dreamingawake]

Please do not confuse this pope with Christianity.

 

No worries. I don't think one man reflects on everyone, nor do I have a problem with most Christians or Catholics. Hell, my girlfriend is Catholic and even keeps a crucifix over our door (personally, I think thats rather morbid but it makes her feel better ). I'm just commenting on my own experience of the one man.

 

 

I don't anyones posted this one yet

[Encephalon]

People should read the newspaper article properly. It doesn't say that the Pope criticised the film -- it says The Vatican newspaper and radio station are critical. And then it goes on to detail other peoples' criticism.

 

You could be right, there, but anyone who's followed this guy's background knows how belligerent he is towards any kind of pantheist/panenthiest thought, and he's honed an absolutist streak towards even the other Abrahamic traditions.

 

While I'm not a Papist and don't agree with the Vatican's views on contraception, I think people should show respect for the head of other peoples' faith.

 

I begrudgingly concur, even though this guy really is holding on to a tradition and a bureaucratic institution that is incapable of responding meaningfully to today's challenges at best, and is outright hostile to any kind of progress that would remove the papacy from its priviledged role.

 

And perhaps instead of the puerile pictures posted up here, people should debate the idea about nature worship and why the Vatican might disagree with that. And do so without resorting to "they burnt people" etc.

 

Actually I tend to agree that one has to be very cautious about elevating nature to having some sort of divine status.

 

While I believe nature is divine made and shares in aspects of divinity but, as in the case of humans, there are many features of nature that are not "divine" and worthy of emulation (e.g.., that the strong kill and consume the weak).

 

I believe the argument against "nature worship" is a false argument. The authentic discussion, waged mostly by scientists and ecologists as well as a few Taoist scholars and hundreds of Buddhist scholars, concerns the necessity of reconciling the human condition with the carrying capacity of the planet, to be completely reductionist about it. This has nothing to do rationalizing or emulating the violent expressions of nature in any way.

 

Trite as it may seem, it is a matter of balance: nature can remind us what is true and beautiful in this world; but we humans have moral faculties and we must use these to ensure that our baser "natural" urges are controlled in the interests of future generations and to help one another when nature shows its nastier side.

 

To me the Na'vi were more "human" and the humans more "nature": the Na'vi used their moral faculties to realise the interconnectedness of nature and to respect it; by contrast the humans were unconstrained by their moral faculties and carried out the baser natural instinct to consume and destroy.

 

I think there's a false dichotomy here. Ferreting out the wisdom of nature is not about seeking legitimacy for unbridled instinctual behavior. Human beings are the only species on earth that can bring self-awareness to the earth's living processes. There are compelling theories that humans are in fact the world's nervous system with the most sophisticated means of cognition, but cognition is life itself, according to the Santiago theory of cognition, regardless of the level of complexity of the nervous system.

Edited January 13, 2010 by Blasto

[Ninpo-me-this-ninjutsu-me-that]

 

 

 

The catholic church can hardly criticize any form of pagan worship, check out the two embroidered images in the photo that was posted above(left and right upper shoulders).... I mean take a closer look, they got horns! One's Pan I'm not sure of the other, but it's most definitely not Christian!

 

Catholicism, stealers of the knowledge.

 

Is it only me that thinks Avatar wasn't that good? I mean yeah, nice special effects and all, but the story line left a lot to be desired.....could have done with shaving off about 20-30 minutes, I almost fell asleep(in 3D). I prefered Camerons film with the big boat.

[Aetherous]

The picture is fake.

 

Here's a real one...

 

 

But I agree with you.

[Ninpo-me-this-ninjutsu-me-that]

The picture is fake.

 

Here's a real one...

 

 

But I agree with you.

 

 

Haha

 

I must be slow.