Talking about God and Jesus just got a little more hip, thanks to Penelope Trunk featuring some Christian bloggers on Brazen Careerist and mentioning that people of faith can be more productive. I mean, we’re all looking for the next edge right?
While George Michael said it best, “You gotta have faith," no matter what your form of worship, I think it’s critically important to know what you are talking about before you start foaming at the mouth about someone else’s religion.
Take this blogger’s denunciation of a Papal document citing a proclamation about the Catholic church being the one true church.*
While this is old news (and by old, I mean biblically so) her post was further riddled with myriad misconceptions, gross over-generalizations, and cheap sensationalism, only pointing to an unstudied defense as a self-designated “non-Jewish Calvinist follower of Christ.” (By the way, are there any Jewish Calvinists?)
Furthermore, if you are not a follower of Catholicism, why would it make you mad what the Pope says? Shouldn’t you leave that to the Catholics? I mean, as a Catholic, I didn’t get upset when my best friend, a practicing Hindu, wouldn’t allow me to eat meat at her house because she thought cows were sacred. I just kept my mouth shut and had a hamburger on my own time.
And if you must know…
*The Pope’s statement is, at its simplest, tautological: true by definition. A little history lesson will further clarify that the Catholic church (the first of its kind) was the one founded by St. Peter, who was told to do so by Jesus. There’s no controversy here. And if you happen to be a Catholic, you can think that that is really cool, you celebrate in the one and only original church. Kind of like the Original Pancake house. Sure, there are other places to get pancakes, but who wouldn't want the original? So, if you are arguing that the Catholic church is not the only path to salvation, that is one thing. But the Catholic church is, by definition, the Catholic church.
3 Comments:
Milena,
I'm not quite sure what your point here is, or even if there is one, but nonetheless I like what you have to say.
I am not a catholic but I am a Christian and maybe I'll start to include the big guy in some of my articles.
@ James Hooper - the main point of my post was to say, "...no matter what your form of worship, I think it’s critically important to know what you are talking about before you start foaming at the mouth about someone else’s religion."
I find that religion is a topic some people find comfortable trashing, even when they do not know what they are talking about. The blogger I reference in the post said things clearly indicating she had never studied Catholicism, yet felt comfortable ripping it apart and chastising it's religious leader.
I was trying to illustrate that though I may not personally agree with someone's beliefs, I try to respect them. For example, where my Hindu friend would have been mortified to see me eat meat in her home, I didn't take it as a personal slight, and respected her beliefs in her company.
@ amy - The Artist's Way is really useful, but was tough for me to keep up with, I've got a lot going on! I appreciate you writing about your explorations regarding faith. There is a quote from some famous mother saying that of all the challenges of her calling, doubt was the most crippling. Puts things in perspective.
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