
Ave
Dohmine, dohmine, dohmine.
The Vatican has declared that the Simpsons are a fine example of the Catholic ideal, and given parents the green light to let their kids watch the animated show. The declaration, in Vatican in-house mag Osservatore Romano, confirms both an earlier paean to the show, and the Simpsons' own onscreen conversion a few years ago. …
"The Vatican can deal with beer-swilling, child-whacking screw-ups and their conniving, underachieving children. It's the wild-eyed evangelicals it has a problem"
Yep. The view is that we are all sinners and we can but try, and the Catholic church aint big on bible bashing, dispite what some may say.
Anon because we are sure to get a few wild-eyed evangelicals posting (both christian and agressivly not)
That's because anyone who actually reads the fucker finds much at odds with Catholic doctrine. But then you could say that about all sky pixie fetishists and their documentation.
Or actual science and the "sky is falling" greenies.
Weird coincidence, that.
Now you know the producers will have the priest chasing the alter boys in at least one episode next season.
But I've tried to explain a similar sentiment (as that expressed by the Vatican) to Mrs. Fetched: the Simpsons are a good example at the very bottom. They're rude and crude, but they pull together as a family when things get tough.
I wonder if the pontiff approves of the renaming of Mr Christ. Meanwhile, the bit about The Simpsons being shown to children: although children are frequently amused by elements of the show, there are certainly parts which are probably not suitable for young minds. Of course many people seem to think, "Ooh, a cartoon for the kiddies!" That kind of simplistic thinking led to a bunch of people complaining that South Park was teaching their children bad language...
"It's the wild-eyed evangelicals it has a problem"
Yep, the Catholic church never had much up with competition in general.
Go ask the Cathars and the Protestants, or the Muslims during the cruisades.
But really, who gives a f*ck anyway.
They are an anachronistic leftover.
You know, the one with all the well-meaning rules that don't work in real life -- uh, Christianity.
-- Homer Simpson, telling what religion the family belongs to
Christianity may be the catch religion, but as for the specific one they belong too:
The Western Branch of American Reform Presbylutheranism (a cross between Presbyterianism and Lutheranism) is the fictional Protestant Christian religion that Rev. Lovejoy preaches at the First Church of Springfield. (Taken from Wikipedia)
So let me get this right; Stephen Hawking (atheist) is a Nazi and Homer Simpson (imaginary made up cartoon character who physicaly abuses his small child and consumes alot of drink) is a Catholic.
I'm so glad the pope is making sence, what with saying aithests are nazi's and cartoon charcters are catholic. It's wonderful how somebody with such a audience of voice can put out such a positive message to the people of the World focusing on the good things and leaving the negative stuff to the tabloids.
I would make a joke about the pope but I feel that it would only cast him in a more positive light given recent events.
Speaking as a regular attender at catholic services, I call foul. The people I meet are not big on "questioning their faith" - indeed you'd get very strange looks if you even mentioned the concept.
The Catholic church is not keen on people reading the bible unsupervised, especially any translation other than their approved one since it tends to undermine some of their more recent ideologies, such as the cult of Mary which presupposes she remained a virgin until she died - an idea adopted in the 19th century, as was papal infallibility. Since protestant christianity is based on bible study this explains why the vatican interpretation of 'ecumenical' is 'convert the mistaken'.
Catholics are definitely not in to questioning their faith. In fact, I'd argue that they take not questioning to such an extreme that, though many of their personal beliefs directly contradict their Church's teachings, they remain purposefully ignorant (even when told) so they can feel that they are faithful adherents. This is in contrast to protestants, who try to (logically or not) find some way to resolve inconsistencies discovered by themselves or pointed out by others.
I too go to Catholic mass regularly (my wife is Catholic), and have found that Catholics, at least here, are, at least int heir faith, living paradoxes and, largely, entirely in denial about it.
As for the bible, pretty much every Catholics believes that they should read the bible and try to understand it AND that they should not read it too closely so as to gain an understanding of it that could differ from what the Magisterium tells them to understand. I think the best way for most of them is the way that happens in a Rosary; namely they take a bunch of small quotes from various different books (of the bible) and tie them together as if they were one continuous excerpt. This makes them feel like they are being good biblical scholars AND the support for the status quo (in this case the cult of Mary) is upheld.
And no computers required. Just a few million brainwashed people.
You can just imagine the first conversations in an Inn a few thousand years ago...........All we need to do is invent a leader, insert the name of your choice here....Jesus, Mohammed, Brian,.......tell the people that he will look after you, get them to pray to him, believe it, and they will fill our pockets with gold.
And they do!!!
Amazing!
For reference: the origin of the phrase "it doesn't matter one iota" - iota (the Greek letter i) was the difference in the naming of the doctrines espoused by the two sides in the dispute over the substance of Christ in the earlier days of the church.
Homoousion (Greek, of one substance) Term used by Augustine to express the identity of the substance of the members of the Trinity; the principal doctrine affirmed in the Athanasian creed, drawn up to confute the Arian heresy.
Homoiousian (Greek, of like substance) Of similar but not identical essence or substance; a subtle compromise between the belief that the members of the Trinity are of one substance (homoousion) and the belief that they are of different substances.
Got to be honest, I don't know nor care about the difference - but as a result of the above, the church split and a series of very nasty conflicts were the result with great number killed in a variety of exciting and painful ways.
I can think of a lot of things that are worth living for, but dying for a letter I seems a bit sad.
Can't say I've watched much of The Simpsons recently.
Reason being that seeing Homer ( to say nothing of Bart )
constantly rescued from the results of his
ignorance/arrogance/stupidity/sexism/drunkenness/avarice etc
( all presented as good ol' boy stuff ) by ( usually ) Marge or Lisa
makes the whole show come across as an ideological platform
for reverse mysogyny. That the Vatican can find anything good
to say about it is merely further evidence of their desperation
to retain at least the distaff side of their shrinking subscriber
base, er, congregation.
*copy of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in the pocket of mine, thanks.
"reverse mysogyny"
Well, that's an interesting reading of it. I think the women are more or less equally fallible and there's no suggestion that Homer is somehow in thrall to matriarchy, but if that's how you see it, I'll look forward to your paper on the matter.
And you mean 'misandry'. Sounds like it might be a handy word for you to incorporate into your vocabulary. You're welcome.