Article: Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible
According to The Times in the UK:
Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible
(thanks again, plasmonicgrid (which came out plasmonicgrind, first)
THE hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has published a teaching document instructing the faithful that some parts of the Bible are not actually true.
The Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland are warning their five million worshippers, as well as any others drawn to the study of scripture, that they should not expect “total accuracy” from the Bible.
“We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete historical precision,” they say in The Gift of Scripture.
The document is timely, coming as it does amid the rise of the religious Right, in particular in the US.
Some Christians want a literal interpretation of the story of creation, as told in Genesis, taught alongside Darwin’s theory of evolution in schools, believing “intelligent design” to be an equally plausible theory of how the world began.
But the first 11 chapters of Genesis, in which two different and at times conflicting stories of creation are told, are among those that this country’s Catholic bishops insist cannot be “historical”. At most, they say, they may contain “historical traces”.
What do you think of this? The catholic church explicitly rejects fundamentalism, according to this article. They directly reject the usage of the bible to discriminate against jews and women. As far as I can tell, they say nothing of whether they think this applies to gay people, but if you’re in for a penny, you’re in for a pound. Or do you think the slurs against jews and the specific declarations of the status of women, which have been declared untrue, count as secular declarations where the denouncing of men upon men is not? I say men upon men, because I believe that is the specific instance referred to in the bible, is it not?
no no.. the true enemy of the Church is still monogamous gay couples.
(not that there’s anything wrong with that)
For the record, you may want to capitalize “Jews”, as not-capitalizing it sometimes indicates attitudes that I don’t think you share. :)
I dunno. I don’t capitalize christians, jews, or pagans. As in… My parents are christians, my sister’s a jew, and I’m a crazy pagan.
Hmm, I might be oversensitized from hanging out in soc.culture.jewish for a bit. I think it’s fine if you’re not capitalizing anything else, either. :-)
I am still under the distinct impression that the universe revolves around me.
I mean the earth! revolves around the earth, not me….that would be silly.
very silly indeed.
I mean, after all, God created me in his image…I didn’t create him in mine.
in his image
so, um… does this then mean that women aren’t in his image? and if we are, does that mean that the christian god is then a woman? Or does it just make him a crossdresser?
the things that make you go hmmmmmm
Re: in his image
Or, more realistically, a hermaphrodite.
I think, quite seriously, that the Catholic Church might be about to suffer from a serious schism of belief again. However, I don’t think it’ll affect the base of United States religious …intent, ahem, because we’re a mostly Protestant based country.
Still, this could send rippling effects. Should be interesting to see what.
I heard story this on NPR and it ties in nicely to your thread.
I read an article from my parish in which our pastor said he was ashamed to admit that the number of people who had actually approached him while trying to deal with the fact that they were gay was less than 5. He felt that although it is not condoned by the church, he did not want to be part of a church where everyone did not feel welcome. At that point I wanted to call him and ask him if he knew he was a Catholic priest.
ugh, I don’t even have the energy… though there are comments for every single point brought up in the entry, and in the comments… already covered all this about gays, about Biblical authority, about the church, about Genesis and Creation, about all of it… too much… brain exploding…! And I’m sure people don’t want to hear more of my long-winded replies anyway ;)… ask me, and I’ll be more than glad to debate these issues :)
tha catholic church has had its own ideas about what its denziens should think and do for a long time indeed, anyhow, as owen so relevantly points out. another little perspective shift. but really, if they lose sight of the basic blueprint-document entire, how is this still a religion relevant to christianity? maybe it hasn’t been that for a while, either. *shrug*