Posted on 03/05/2009 9:05:07 AM PST by Alex Murphy
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - In an effort to reduce the church's political influence, Argentine atheists and feminists are spearheading a drive to get people who were baptized Roman Catholic but disagree with the church's politics to formally renounce their faith.
The "Not in my Name" Internet campaign, also called Collective Apostasy, encourages people who are Catholic in name only to write to the bishops where they were baptized to officially register that they have left the church.
Latin America is home to about half of the world's Roman Catholics but many people who were baptized Catholic do not practice the religion.
"The church counts all those who've been baptized as Catholic and lobbies for legislation based on that number, so we're trying to convey the importance of people expressing that they no longer belong to the church," said campaigner Ariel Bellino, a member of an atheist group and a former Catholic.
Some 200 people signed onto the campaign on Monday, when it was first launched, and another 500 people signed up on Tuesday at www.apostasiacolectiva.org, Bellino said.
He said a similar drive was waged in Spain, where leftist movements have a historical anti-clerical streak, and in Chile.
Apostasy in the Roman Catholic Church is defined as the total and obstinate repudiation of the faith.
More than three-quarters of Argentina's 40 million residents define themselves as Catholic, according to a survey done by state researchers last year. But of that group, only about 20 percent say they regularly attend mass.
The country's relatively liberal social mores clash with Catholic doctrine on birth control, abstinence before marriage and homosexuality. The capital, Buenos Aires, was the first Latin American city to allow gay civil unions, back in 2003.
A constitutional requirement that presidents be Catholic was stripped out of the country's charter in
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
...More than three-quarters of Argentina's 40 million residents define themselves as Catholic, according to a survey done by state researchers last year. But of that group, only about 20 percent say they regularly attend mass.
And yet the Knights of Columbus is the only fraternal order that is growing.
Actually this is a good idea and I for one support it.
Being Catholic is not a birthright or a cultural condition. It means believing and following what the Church teaches. If you can not do that find another faith, or no faith or make up your own. But stop claiming you are Catholic because you sat your butt in a pew. Ovens, kittens do not muffins make. (relax the oven is off)
This is one time that I agree with the atheists and feminists. The CINO's who can't embrace even the basic tenants of Christian teaching like respect for life should get the hell out of the church and quit using it as a fig-leaf to cover their Satanic views. The same goes for fake Baptists, Lutherans, Mormons and anyone else who think there is nothing incompatible with Christianity and Marxism.
Do Prots get the popcorn concession on this???
LOL.
Goodness . . . INTEGRITY in counting RC’s?
What a novel idea!
Oh, I agree.
PseudoChristians of every stripe need to resign, advertise the truth.
The whole “no birth control” thing does have that effect. lol
Can we bring those idiots to our country, so we can be rid of Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Kathleen Sebelius and Ted Kennedy?
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