Posted on 11/30/2013 3:59:08 PM PST by NYer
It’s really quite alarming.
I’ve always assumed that FREE REPUBLIC was a safe haven for ALL Faith’s. (my bad!)
Call in an exorcist! Heads are spinning! Pea green vomit is being spewed! Break out the Holy water and a Crucifix with an actual Corpus!
What a disgraceful display of hate.
If you are not comfortable with that style of religious debate, then only read and post to RF threads labeled "caucus" "ecumenical" "prayer" or "devotional."
Don’t confuse the Occupy Wall St crowd with conservatism.
Do you approve of insider trading (Enron)? Do you approve of the pyramid scheme (Madoff)? Do you agree with Soros’ currency manipulation and his conviction in a French court?
Hate is hate. Period.
From the Pope’s mouth:
“54. In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting. To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own. The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase; and in the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us.
No to the new idolatry of money
55. One cause of this situation is found in our relationship with money, since we calmly accept its dominion over ourselves and our societies. The current financial crisis can make us overlook the fact that it originated in a profound human crisis: the denial of the primacy of the human person! We have created new idols. The worship of the ancient golden calf (cf. Ex 32:1-35) has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose. The worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances and, above all, their lack of real concern for human beings; man is reduced to one of his needs alone: consumption.
56. While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation. Consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. A new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules. Debt and the accumulation of interest also make it difficult for countries to realize the potential of their own economies and keep citizens from enjoying their real purchasing power. To all this we can add widespread corruption and self-serving tax evasion, which have taken on worldwide dimensions. The thirst for power and possessions knows no limits. In this system, which tends to devour everything which stands in the way of increased profits, whatever is fragile, like the environment, is defenseless before the interests of a deified market, which become the only rule... With this in mind, I encourage financial experts and political leaders to ponder the words of one of the sages of antiquity: “Not to share one’s wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood. It is not our own goods which we hold, but theirs”.
” Welfare projects, which meet certain urgent needs, should be considered merely temporary responses...We can no longer trust in the unseen forces and the invisible hand of the market. Growth in justice requires more than economic growth, while presupposing such growth: it requires decisions, programmes, mechanisms and processes specifically geared to a better distribution of income, the creation of sources of employment and an integral promotion of the poor which goes beyond a simple welfare mentality. I am far from proposing an irresponsible populism, but the economy can no longer turn to remedies that are a new poison, such as attempting to increase profits by reducing the work force and thereby adding to the ranks of the excluded.
205. I ask God to give us more politicians capable of sincere and effective dialogue aimed at healing the deepest roots – and not simply the appearances – of the evils in our world! Politics, though often denigrated, remains a lofty vocation and one of the highest forms of charity, inasmuch as it seeks the common good.[174] We need to be convinced that charity “is the principle not only of micro-relationships (with friends, with family members or within small groups) but also of macro-relationships (social, economic and political ones)”.[175] I beg the Lord to grant us more politicians who are genuinely disturbed by the state of society, the people, the lives of the poor! It is vital that government leaders and financial leaders take heed and broaden their horizons, working to ensure that all citizens have dignified work, education and healthcare...
... Indeed, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find local solutions for enormous global problems which overwhelm local politics with difficulties to resolve. If we really want to achieve a healthy world economy, what is needed at this juncture of history is a more efficient way of interacting which, with due regard for the sovereignty of each nation, ensures the economic well-being of all countries, not just of a few.”
“The pontiff was merely reiterating consistent Church teaching that supports a free market, but also reminds the moral obligation to act responsibly, honestly and prudently.”
Ummm...no. Read what the POPE said, not this guy’s spin. The Pope is calling for political leaders to impose economic ‘justice’ instead of allowing free people to make free choices in a free market. He wants “a more efficient way of interacting which, with due regard for the sovereignty of each nation, ensures the economic well-being of all countries, not just of a few.” How you get that without one world government, he doesn’t bother to explain. But then, explanations are what his handlers do as they follow him around, trying to explain what the Pope REALLY said...
Thanks. Iv’e been reading one thread after another and wondering why no warnings to the haters from the religion mods.
Thanks again for educating me about the rules.
What did Rush And Sarah really say?
Okay, now I’m PO’d at the pope again. His derisive reference to “trickle-down theories” is like something you’d see at Daily Kos. This can’t be chalked up to a translational error.
By “haters” I guess you mean Freepers who criticise the pope’s statement?
“Yea if they read them.Both admitted they didn’t.”
Great. They were both honest. Nor are they required to read the entirety.
That said, besides personal acts of Christian charity, it is logical and reasonable, prudent and necessary to pool resources and, even for the state, to help in cases where the most needy and most urgent cases are helped. Yet no pope ever promoted, nor called for, a welfare state that perpetually cares for the poor. The ultimate goal is to enable the poor to rise above poverty and reach a level of dignity commensurate with their human dignity.
As Rush’s brain dead example of the iPhone shows, there is plenty to dislike in the modern market “systems”, which are already shaped by the governments into something antithetical to free exchange. I agree with His Holiness, and I never attempted to twist what he said.
“What did Rush And Sarah really say?”
Rush’s comments have already been posted at length on this thread. I haven’t read Palin’s comments. I posted the Pope’s because so many spinners are trying to pretend he did not say what he said - so I posted the Vatican’s translation of what he wrote.
So, in effect, Pope Francis condemns worship of the false god of Mammon, and Rush freaks out as a result. Says a lot.
WE are in big trouble, actually, when the USCCB, Archbishop Gomez, namely, and a Mexican immigrant to this country, publically criticizes our way of government, and in the arena of Amnesty, ostensibly for charity of these invaders, who care nothing for this country, which is being driven by unfettered consumers, corporations, in order for them to secure cheap non American labor here in our own country, of which the bishops are naïve, and all the Pope can say is something which can be misquoted or quoted as, give your money to the poor.
In a time when our county is on the brink of failure due to a 17 trillion dollar debt before obamacare, and we do not have any money to give to 20 or 30 million invaders, the quantity of which we are being lied to.
This country is in trouble financially, and the Church leaders are not helping
If trickle down was working today, we would not have the 24,000,000 that Romney said were looking for work.
Yes, I have read the Exhortation and remember those wonderful passages. No, they are not liberation theology, — this is legitimate reading of the Gospel, and legitimate criticism of the modern state capitalism with global reach. Of course there are exclusion zones in the US, — ever drove through a black ghetto somewhere? — certainly there are exclusion zones in the Third World, rapidly filled by Islam. American style capitalism works so long that there is an American government looking after the interest of American nation. We don’t have one any more, it has been replaced with internationalist cabal in 1988. In other cultures, latter American style global capitalism demonstrably does not work for nearly anyone.
Whether the Exhortation “works for you” or not shouldn’t be anyone’s concern but yours; it isn’t a concern of mine.
The majority of "Christians" in this country, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, are far more concerned with the Almighty Dollar than they are with Almighty God.
It’s not inattention, it’s that people who see nothing wrong with following in the footsteps of Carthaginians sacrificing their children to Moloch in return for economic"blessings" rather than practicing self-control a few days a month are no longer capable of seeing anything from a Christian perspective.
That's why while there have been a bare minimum of twice as many infants murdered in the womb with "contraceptives" as have been murdered by invasive means what really generates emotion among "Christians" is someone saying something negative about the Golden Sow of extreme consumerism.
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