| | **Major Thread Hijack Alert**
**Long Post Alert**
Andy, this is the first time I've found myself in disagreement with you -- I concur with Jason's critical reasoning regarding your response to the 5 theses of Marty's:
============
1. a fictitious character without identity created the world,
2. man belongs to god and must do as god says,
3. revelation is the ultimate means of acquiring truth,
4. altruism is man's duty,
5. happiness on Earth is not man's highest goal
============
I guess it's just a striking coincidence that Marty's name -- and the 5 theses -- have a striking resemblance to the name and tone of some 95 theses from another "Martin" -- who nailed them to the door of a church, back in 1517 AD!
There is one point of agreement between us, however. You stated that:
=================
I'll grant you that a lot of Christians don't understand their religion and import into it Marxian anti-concepts that are the bane of our modern society.
=================
But this thinking error stems from the very sect you defend -- and can be illustrated by critical examination of the evolution of Papal Social Thought. All one need do, in order to squarely place blame on the Catholics for this atrocity, is to compare & contrast what Pope Leo XIII wrote in 1891 (Rerum Novarum--The Condition of Labor) with what Pope John XXIII wrote in 1963 (Pacem in Terris--Peace on Earth). The reason for this contradictory disparity (from 1891-1963) is because religion is an entirely subjective -- read: arbitrary -- endeavor (it must follow the winds of culture -- or die).
Pope Leo XIII (the anti-socialist, capitalist-sympathizer):
========
... a working man's little estate thus purchased should be as completely at his own disposal as the wages he receives for his labor. But it is precisely in this power of disposal that ownership consists, whether the property be land or moveable goods. The Socialists ... deprive him of the liberty of disposing of his wages, and thus of all hope and possibility increasing his stock and of bettering his condition in life.
What is of still greater importance, however, is that the remedy they propose is manifestly against justice. For every man has by nature the right to possess property as his own.
========
========
It is the mind, or the reason, which is the chief thing in us who are human beings; it is this which makes a human being human, and distinguishes him essentially and completely from the brute. And on this account--viz., that man alone among animals possesses reason--it must be within his right to have things not merely for temporary and momentary use, as other living beings have them, but in stable and permanent possession ...
========
========
Man is older than the state and he holds the right of providing for the life of his body prior to the formation of any state.
========
========
... the limits of private possession have been left to be fixed by man's own industry and the laws of individual peoples.
========
========
... private ownership is according to nature's law. For that which is required for the preservation of life and for life's well being, is produced in great abundance by the earth, but not until man has brought it into cultivation and lavished upon it his care and skill.
========
========
True, no one is commanded to distribute to others that which is required for his own necessities and those of his household; not even to give away what is reasonably required to keep up becomingly his condition in life; "for no one ought to live unbecomingly."
========
========
... this great labor question cannot be solved except by assuming as a principle that private ownership must be held sacred and inviolable. The law, therefore, should favor ownership, and it's policy should be to induce as many people as possible to become owners.
========
Now Andy, let's contrast that with altruist-collectivist bullshit of Pope John XXIII -- writing now in a "different" time, we see the inherent social metaphysics (ie. a fluid indeterminacy) of religion ...
========
... every man has the right ... to the means which are necessary and suitable for the proper development of life; these are primarily food, clothing, shelter, rest, medical care, and finally the necessary social services. Therefore a human being also has the right to security in cases of sickness, inability to work, widowhood, old age, unemployment, ... the right to a basic education and to technical and professional training ...
========
And who provides for all of these new inflations of "rights"? Slaves do. Slaves to a Welfare State. The Catholic Church is as guilty as any Democrat or NeoCon -- in bringing about our current altruist-collectivist dilemma.
Ed
|
|
