Question for Muslims

[Hobbs]

Opus Dei is neither radical nor a sect. It is a religious order recognized by the Vatican. They are merely more conservative than the usual Catholic (ie. the most opposed to abortion, keeping Mass in Latin).

I actually don't care about either book or the movies. My mention of the books has been taken completely out of context, which seems to be the penchant for this forum.

[AdminAssistant]

Silas, and it was Opus Dei... not that I've nearly memorized the book or anything

It's been a while since I read the book, and I only read it once. I've seen the movie several times, and I thought it was decent enough (of course, I'm a big Audrey Tatou fan). Still haven't seen Angels & Demons; I need to put it on my Netflix queue.

[draggar]

As far as the movies go, DaVinci Code was better than Angels and Demons.

[fireheart17]

The Vatican is not even recognized by the UN

I'll have to disagree with you on that point.

http://www.religlaw.org/docs/religlaw_2997.pdf

If it doesn't work on your computer, basically here's a rough sum-up:

Recalling that the Holy See became a Permanent Observer State at the United
Nations on 6 April 1964, and since then has always been invited to participate in the
meetings of all the sessions of the General Assembly,

Acknowledges that the Holy See, in its capacity as an Observer State,
shall be accorded the rights and privileges of participation in the sessions and work
of the General Assembly and the international conferences convened under the
auspices of the Assembly or other organs of the United Nations, as well as in United
Nations conferences as set out in the annex to the present resolution

Basically, those two quotes mean that it is recognised, it just can't vote.

[smileyeagle1021]

Opus Dei is neither radical nor a sect..

In fairness though, radical is a matter of perspective.

[Hobbs]

In fairness though, radical is a matter of perspective.

Well, to you, just about everything Christian is radical, in fairness.

[smileyeagle1021]

Well, to you, just about everything Christian is radical, in fairness.

I know Catholics who would say Opus Dei is radical, also know Mormons and protestants who say that. My views may be on the extreme side, but that doesn't mean that those who are more moderate don't have views in common.

[Hobbs]

It's been my view that Protestants don't have a clear view of what Catholicism even is. The times I've been asked if I'm a Christian are too numerous to count.

[Fryk]

Yeah, I remember when I was in christian college (a stupid time in my life), there was a LOOOOT of catholic bashing going on. And most of it, when you step back doesn't sound any more weird than wha goes on in a lot of protestant churches.

[Hobbs]

I actually had a lot of, "I wish my church did that!" and "Wow, I didn't know 'X' about..." once we actually got into discussion about my beliefs.

[Hyena Dandy]

Because the Pope really cares about human life, and places the freedom and well-being of humanity above the well-being of himself and his organization. No pope has ever been petty, violent, hateful or despotic.

Oh wait, FUCKLOADS of them were!

The Catholic church's upper management has shown for centuries that they're capable of any damn thing they please, much of which ranges from inhumane to downright evil. Do you really want these people to have, along with various support networks, assassins?

Of course, a great deal of them were. But for the most part, the really bad ones were centuries ago. The church has admitted that they made mistakes in the past, and its seemed perfectly accepting of its new, reduced role in the world.

And, may I ask, who are the assassins? Are we talking about Opus Dei? 'Cause I know an Opus Dei guy, and trust me, he's not much of an assassin, and he isn't even completely obsessed with defending the church in every waking moment. Unless he's really good at hiding it. Or, I suppose its possible that trolling the Neopets forums is on the secret orders of Pope Crazyface (Hey, I'm a Catholic, but that guy DOES have a crazy face...)

[Wingates_Hellsing]

I think many would agree with me when I say that the previous pope as well as the one before him were pretty bad. They didn't have as much affect on world affairs as in yesteryear, but what they have done is quite distasteful.

Also, we were discussing Section 13 Iscariot. A covert paramilitary force charged with defending the church from outside threats. Given the Catholic church's definition of 'threat' I find the prospect of their having a private under-cover army quite disturbing.