Anti Catholicism prevalent in Ireland,but...

[LCohen]

Faith doesn't require evidence. There is plenty of evidence (eg haunted properties,out of body experiences  etc) that life exists after death,but I agree, no one should be forced to believe and neither should those who do believe be subjected to ridicule.

From reading your contributions on here then yes its clear that you are quite prepared to believe something without evidence. More than that you are prepared to believe without even looking for evidence. That's all perfectly fine and entirely in line with many other spiritualists. No argument there

However unquestioning faith that is  not supported by evidence, does not look for evidence, discourages looking for evidence and frequently flies directly in the face of hard evidence is not suited to being taught unchallenged to school children, should not influence public policy and should not be running state funded schools.

Still laughing at the reference to haunted houses and out of body experiences. Care to produce any of this evidence??

Religion should not be exempt from general satire. Spiritualist like everybody else should be challenged and when spiritualist say/do something ridiculous then like the rest of us they should be subject to ridicule. The haunted houses being a case in point.

[ONeill]

Tony, I don't doubt your knowledge of your faith, but who came up with the idea of the Immaculate Conception? I'm sure you celebrate it but have you any idea where it came from?

[LCohen]

the immaculate conception is a bit of a baffler. Its dreamed up to conveniently get that son of god third of the holy trinity. Its not so convenient when it dis-entitles the jesus lad from claiming any fulfillment of the old testament claim that messiah would come from the house of david. Jesus' blood line is the god character or joseph the chippy. The new testament was written many years after the death of christ. The overwhelming majority of its many disparate writers never met jesus and were writing to fulfill prophecies. At the time the respective writers had no idea what the others were writing and they all end up telling very different stories as they focus on fulfilling different prophecies or sometimes fulfilling the same ones but very different means. Some good yarns but not an historical record.

Most modern christians seem to have great difficulty with the bible. The american christian talaban are clearly lunatics but they are at least honest lunatics. They claim the literal truth of the bible and they take the flak for all the oddities that the bible throws up. Over here they lack that courahe and we get a wishy-washy take on the bible. The US nuts can hide in the bible. Over here they have nowher to hide. Most have little understanding of the books they claim to believe in   

[lynchbhoy]

That makes even less sense than Tony does !!

[T Fearon]

The very concept of faith is not subject to logic,reasoning etc, that's where the big mistake is.No point in looking for evidence,there's none to be found.

I simply believe Jesus existed,performed miracles and rose from the dead.There are billions around the world like me.

If you don't believe this,fine, good luck to you,but why are so many on this thread exercised to the point of rage,by those who do?

[Rois]

Can you please go and google the Immaculate Conception? It refers to MARY being born without original sin, not Jesus.

[haveaharp]

If you don't believe this,fine, good luck to you,but why are so many on this thread exercised to the point of rage,by those who do?

Because Tony those that don't are rocked by your revelations about eternal damnation. And there is a vibe throughout that somehow you are better because you do believe, maybe that's what folk object to.

[T Fearon]

The revelations about eternal damnation are nothing to do with me,they are from a much higher source.Believe me, I would be more than happy to discover there is no truth in these.

I don't claim any superiority due to my faith,my superiority complex derives exclusively from my intellect and innate self belief.

[haveaharp]

The revelations about eternal damnation are nothing to do with me,they are from a much higher source.Believe me, I would be more than happy to discover there is no truth in these.

I don't claim any superiority due to my faith,my superiority complex derives exclusively from my intellect and innate self belief.

You repeat them and believe them so they are everything to do with you. Anyway no further comment to add as your position is clear. You are a supporter and admirer of a facilitator of child abuse. There is no getting away from that. 39 years, ach sure i'm sure they are over it now.

[lynchbhoy]

These threads are a joke
Tony may be saying things to show his opinion on Brady and that the culprits of blocking the non reporting of the abuse. But I don't think he is backing the abuse.
Also I don't read anywhere that he thinks he is better because of his beliefs - in fact it reads more like many are trying to bully him with their (non) beliefs and are belittling Tonys .

Tony you are better off saying nothing as your beliefs are being ridiculed by people with some kind of axe to grind on either you personally, the mishandling of the abuse cases or those now disliking the Catholic Church.
It's just bad manners IMO
I think tony is over egging it to wind folk up too

I just don't find the child abuse or people's faith are suitable topics for slagging matches

[Myles Na G.]

Can you please go and google the Immaculate Conception? It refers to MARY being born without original sin, not Jesus.

The Immaculate Conception and the virgin birth are frequently confused on this board and beyond, even by people claiming to be believers. Does my napper in.

[muppet]

Can you please go and google the Immaculate Conception? It refers to MARY being born without original sin, not Jesus.

Serious question: Did Jesus ever refer to this?

[Lar Naparka]

These threads are a joke
Tony may be saying things to show his opinion on Brady and that the culprits of blocking the non reporting of the abuse. But I don't think he is backing the abuse.
Also I don't read anywhere that he thinks he is better because of his beliefs - in fact it reads more like many are trying to bully him with their (non) beliefs and are belittling Tonys .

Tony you are better off saying nothing as your beliefs are being ridiculed by people with some kind of axe to grind on either you personally, the mishandling of the abuse cases or those now disliking the Catholic Church.
It's just bad manners IMO
I think tony is over egging it to wind folk up too

I just don't find the child abuse or people's faith are suitable topics for slagging matches

No, I don't think he is backing child abuse; that's fairly obvious but he is egging away merrily and knows damn well that he annoying other posters by what he writes.
You will find that his beliefs are being ridiculed by others who are practising Catholics and I think it's hard to blame them. Logic doesn't come into it; he started this thread to draw attention to the sacristan who defied his superiors and went on hunger strike in protest at the decision to shut the Dominican church in Drogheda down.
But over on the other related thread he is arguing the exact opposite.
How 'bout this?

".....He's not the first priest to resist a move and try to get his parishioners to back him,defying the divine authority of the church."

Now, can you tell me which is the real Tony or wtf he's up to?
BTW, I don't really mind what he writes. If this is they way to pass his idle time and he seems to have plenty of it, then so be it.
Anyone who responds is a consenting adult and is within his/her rights to do so. I join in the craic from time to time, not because I expect a logical answer but out of sheer curiosity to see what he'll come up with next.

[T Fearon]

Surely the bible makes it very clear."The Angel of The Lord declared on Mary and she conceived by the Holy Ghost"

[Maguire01]

Surely the bible makes it very clear."The Angel of The Lord declared on Mary and she conceived by the Holy Ghost"

You can't argue with that.