Re: Catholics in Space!

On Tue, 25 Dec 2001 10:41:56 +1100 "Alan and Carmel Brain"
<aebrain@austarmetro.com.au> writes:
>Subject: Re: Catholics in Space!
<snip>
>Oh yes, and my wife scored a High Distinction in Theology at 
>University.
>I think it was the essay involving Mary Baker Eddy and Joseph Smith 
>that
>directly challenged the basic beliefs of the course supervisor that 
>did it.
>He was an honest man.
>

LOL, now that's an unlikely pair to draw to!

<snip>
>The bad press that Middle-Age Catholicism has got is just that - bad 
>press.
>All the printing presses were in Northern Europe, and the massive 
>outpouring
>of anti-Catholic propaganda has come down through history as the only
>record of the time that most people know. And it's mostly Propaganda 
>of the
>most mendacious kind.
>

If you're going to lie... Might as well make it a Big Lie.  Where have I
heard that recently?

>Here's a question for you:
>In its 400 year history, How many people in toto did the Spanish 
>Inquisition
>burn (or cause to be burnt)?
>
>a) Millions
>b) Hundreds of thousands
>c) Tens of thousands
>d) Thousands
>e) Hundreds
>f) Tens
>
>Correct answer is e). Surprised the heck out of me, too.
>

Of course for the persons involved it 100% fatal.

>On the gripping hand... The Papacy has been hijacked many times, 
>sometimes
>for centuries, by some really unsavoury power-merchants. Theocracies 
>are
>a particularly nasty form of Tyranny. Worse, the reason why the Church 
>got
>such bad PR, since the presses all belonged to their opponents, was 
>very
>much because those in power didn't want literacy for the masses. (bad 
>pun).
>Fortunately for all concerned, the Catholic Church having been 
>divested of
>its temoporal power can now concentrate on what it should be doing, 
>and the
>Papacy isn't sought by the same unsavoury means as, say, the US 
>Presidency
>(zing!)
>Bringing things back on topic, much as I hate to say it, if the 
>Catholic
>Church ever did gain the same amount of temporal power as, say, the 
>USA
>has today, I doubt if as an institution it would use it so wisely and 
>so
>well.

Power corrupts and absolute power...

I think about some of my fellow evangelicals and imagine them actually
achieving potent political power... shudder.

When I was a teen aged I remember the Pope coming over her and the
broadside of lies I found on my window from a (IIRC) Tony Alamo and his
church (The only true church of course) that was so grossly off base
that
even I (who then considered the Antichrist would be some Pope present or
future - don't ask, it was a common belief of the times in some
Protestant circles) was upset by it's use of outlandish rumors being
treated as (excuse the pun) gospel.

No group is immune from the abuses of power and self-fulfilling
prophecy.

>In the OGRE-verse, the Papacy has regained a bit of power, and the
>Gold-and-Purple
>Cybertanks of the Vatican Guard are rightly feared. So a SF setting 
>with
>Catholics in Space is legit.
>

True.  But the Reformation all over again in space... pretty messy.

>Comparison with the Ottomans is quite appropriate. They suffered from
>much the same problem, Islamic Civilisation never having recovered its
>spirit of tolerance and enlightenment after the Mongols destroyed 
>Persia,
>worse luck.
>Then there's the Crusades against the Hussites, Moldavians etc. Dark,
>bloody and awful deeds. Oh yes, the 30 years war, the sack of 
>Magdeburg,
>and God only knows how many disgusting atrocities done in the name of 
>Holy
>Mother Church. Some people never do get the word - take a look at the
>behaviour of some Serbs to some Bosnians.
>
>Heck, it's as bad as some of the things done by the Puritans in the US 
>and
>UK.
>

What was the theory in the late 1960's - no minority was going to
oppress
anyone because they had suffered oppression and hence would be incapable
of treating their oppressors as they had been treated (at least in
degree) IIRC. We swallowed a lot of myths in that period only for
reality
to wake us up years later.

>But the Aztecs were a different kettle of fish entirely. Along with
>National Socialism, and Angka, that culture deserved cultural 
>genocide.
>Just ask any of their neighbours.
>

Who of course were objective and pure as Polly Purebread I'm sure.

>OK, I've managed to upset nearly everybody. 

The definition of equal treatment.

So in summary:
>Merry Christmas, Peace on Earth and Goodwill to all Men.

I thought it went (NIV) "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace
to men on whom his favor rests."  Luke 2:14

>(what about Space? And waht about Aliens? Them too, even more so,
>except on the wargames table)
>

Evangelical Aliens versus Human Catholics.... there is some potential
there...
<grin>

Gracias,
Glenn/Triphibious@juno.com
This is my Science Fiction Alter Ego E-mail address.
Historical - Warbeads@juno.com
Fantasy and 6mm - dwarf_warrior@juno.com

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