For all Catholics on this forum...

[woodsmoke]

Well each week, on the weekend, here in the U.S., I reverently, and humbly, enter my "pretty building" with "paintings on the wall"... and approach the "great book".

There is a proponent of the book, who speaks in strident tones, inveigeling, with honeyed words that would succor a bab that was away from it's mother's.....ahem well.....

The person is attired in fine regailia, with precious stones etc.

We are invited to share in a short meal of unleavened bread and a non-alcoholic (in this politically correct day and age) cup.

OMG WHAT AM I DOING...posting about a religious observance in the hallowed sanctum sanctorum of Linuxdom? :0

Sorry, lost my head.....

I was talking about the local Barns and Noble, you know, a very pretty, and dignified building with very pretty paintings of authors on the upper wall of the coffee/pastry shoppe.

The person talking about "the book" is a local author, who is really, really, trying to push her book and the precious jewels are, of course, a very nice necklace. The clothing is from a high end botique.

And the unleavened bread is a scone and the non-alcoholic drink is.....ahem.....doubleshot latte dark roast.

Funny how aspersive terminology can be turned around.....

Lotsa fun!

woodNOTgoingtoB&Nthisweekendsmoke...lol

[Achaean]

On an ideal world, religion and science would be the two sides of the same coin, I suppose.
Helping men to understand the universe and learn how to live all together.

Unfortunately, this world is far away from being perfect.
Religion and Science higher commands (casts?), fighting brutally each other on a deadly struggle for power and dominance of society.
I'm equally disappointed from the scientific leaders of the planet.
Weapons and wars and guns of mass destruction, is all they care about.

[tek_heretik]

Well each week, on the weekend, here in the U.S., I reverently, and humbly, enter my "pretty building" with "paintings on the wall"... and approach the "great book".

There is a proponent of the book, who speaks in strident tones, inveigeling, with honeyed words that would succor a bab that was away from it's mother's.....ahem well.....

The person is attired in fine regailia, with precious stones etc.

We are invited to share in a short meal of unleavened bread and a non-alcoholic (in this politically correct day and age) cup.

OMG WHAT AM I DOING...posting about a religious observance in the hallowed sanctum sanctorum of Linuxdom? :0

Sorry, lost my head.....

I was talking about the local Barns and Noble, you know, a very pretty, and dignified building with very pretty paintings of authors on the upper wall of the coffee/pastry shoppe.

The person talking about "the book" is a local author, who is really, really, trying to push her book and the precious jewels are, of course, a very nice necklace. The clothing is from a high end botique.

And the unleavened bread is a scone and the non-alcoholic drink is.....ahem.....doubleshot latte dark roast.

Funny how aspersive terminology can be turned around.....

Lotsa fun!

woodNOTgoingtoB&Nthisweekendsmoke...lol

Very amusing sir, thanks for the laugh.

[tek_heretik]

On an ideal world, religion and science would be the two sides of the same coin, I suppose.
Helping men to understand the universe and learn how to live all together.

Unfortunately, this world is far away from being perfect.
Religion and Science higher commands (casts?), fighting brutally each other on a deadly struggle for power and dominance of society.
I'm equally disappointed from the scientific leaders of the planet.
Weapons and wars and guns of mass destruction, is all they care about.

Agreed, even Einstein had an 'oops' moment, "what have I unleashed upon the world?"

[bsniadajewski]

@tek_heretik #12

I usually see the difference between the two as being in size and (mostly) longevity.

A cult could last only as long as the person is alive, or a mass suicide (see Jonestown Massacre), with only a rleative handfull of members (say, in the thousands), whereas a religion would last quite a while (see all major religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.)and number in the (multi-)millions.

@Qq Yes, I'm talking about just Catholics. All of Christendom would number over 2 billion worldwide, compared to Islam with 1.6 billion. That would leave about 700 million of Orthodox, Protestant, Mormon, and other Chistians.

@ achaean Yes, they can be. For Exmple, The Big Bang theory was devised by a Catholic priest fron Belgium, and the Church has no problems with evolutionary theory.

[tek_heretik]

@tek_heretik #12

I usually see the difference between the two as being in size and (mostly) longevity.

A cult could last only as long as the person is alive, or a mass suicide (see Jonestown Massacre), with only a rleative handfull of members (say, in the thousands), whereas a religion would last quite a while (see all major religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.)and number in the (multi-)millions.

@Qq Yes, I'm talking about just Catholics. All of Christendom would number over 2 billion worldwide, compared to Islam with 1.6 billion. That would leave about 700 million of Orthodox, Protestant, Mormon, and other Chistians.

@ achaean Yes, they can be. For Exmple, The Big Bang theory was devised by a Catholic priest fron Belgium, and the Church has no problems with evolutionary theory.

What does size of or longevity have to do with an organization being a cult? I cite Scientology as an example, lol.

Are you sure about your numbers? Indians (from India) and Chinese make up almost half of the world's population, I find 2 billion a little hard to believe, coupled with the fact not all Caucasians are Christian, Protestant and Mormon ARE Christian by the way, anything that's NOT Catholic but still uses the bible, etc, is still Christian. Orthodox what? Orthodox Jew? Jews are NOT Christian, they killed Christ supposedly.

The church has no problems with evolution? Really? I guess the sensational Darwin trial was all for not then, I guess they changed their minds, like they did with burning women for being 'witches', etc, but sodomizing young boys seems to be in vogue still.

[bsniadajewski]

What does size of or longevity have to do with an organization being a cult? I cite Scientology as an example, lol.

Are you sure about your numbers? Indians (from India) and Chinese make up almost half of the world's population, I find 2 billion a little hard to believe, coupled with the fact not all Caucasians are Christian, Protestant and Mormon ARE Christian by the way, anything that's NOT Catholic but still uses the bible, etc, is still Christian. Orthodox what? Orthodox Jew? Jews are NOT Christian, they killed Christ supposedly.

The church has no problems with evolution? Really? I guess the sensational Darwin trial was all for not then, I guess they changed their minds, like they did with burning women for being 'witches', etc, but sodomizing young boys seems to be in vogue still.

I checked with Wikipedia (I know, not the absolute authority, but anyway) search with "Religious adherents" and it came to the page I got my figures from. I was talking about the 700M Orthodox, Protestant, Mormon, etc. out of the ~2B total Christians (I was not trying to include non-Christians, though it may have come off as such, I appologize.)

I was talking about the CAtholic Church when it came to Evolution, not the Baptists or any fundamentalist denomination. The Salem witch trials also had nothing to do with Catholics but Puritans (who broke from the Anglicans in the 17th Century. Remember, Catholics != Baptists != Puritans, though they all are Christan. As to the last point I hope His Holiness Pope Francis does put his foot down and properly takes care of the priests (who are really breaking their vows to begin with) and bishops responsible for the scandals rocking the Church today.

[SteveRiley]

For those interested in such things, a useful site for statistics regarding religious affiliations is Adherents.com.

http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

[tek_heretik]

For those interested in such things, a useful site for statistics regarding religious affiliations is Adherents.com.

http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

This is my last comment in this thread, I am spiritual but not a huge fan of organized religion. Thanks for the link Steve but did you see the date on that pie chart? A lot can change in 8 years.

[SteveRiley]

did you see the date on that pie chart? A lot can change in 8 years.

Huh, I missed that. I wonder if just the chart is old, or if the data itself hasn't been updated.

I trust that we all can keep the conversation civil here, everyone.

[bsniadajewski]

Huh, I missed that. I wonder if just the chart is old, or if the data itself hasn't been updated.

I trust that we all can keep the conversation civil here, everyone.

That's probably where Wikipedia got its data from when I was looking it up, and probably updated it to reflect the 2000's instead of the 1990's.

ANd, yes, w ecan keep this civil.

[MoonRise]

As Spock would say --- Fascinating!