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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (107115)	4/1/2005 5:19:53 PM
From: haqihana	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793955

CB, >>Catholic Church, if you commit suicide, you're going to burn in hell for all eternity.<< Neither the Catholic church, or any other Christian denomination, has the right to determine what a sin is unless it is specifically listed in the Bible as one. Where does the Vatican get off by setting up a rating list of sins? There is nothing in the Bible about mortal, venal, or any other category of sins. Why is it considered proper for another human to be justified in making the decision whether a sin will be forgiven, or not? That is up to God, and any human that does so, is usurping the power of God. How is it that a human priest, can forgive a sin based on confession, and then turn around and perform an act as a pedophile, and receive protection from legal prosecution by the hierarchy of a denomination consisting of other mere humans?? As far as I am concerned, a person can worship anything they choose, but they should not parade their beliefs in front other humans as being the only show in town.

To: Ilaine who wrote (107115)	4/1/2005 6:31:29 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793955

Is that too much to ask? A while back I had a series of conversations with a friend from the office about organ donation. I think that the context was that they had just offered a checkbox on the driver's license. She had felt threatened by the whole notion of organ donation and said that she wouldn't consider being an organ donor because she was concerned that someone would be so eager for her organs that she would be declared dead prematurely in order to harvest them. This is normal, intelligent woman whose husband (whom she met thought Mensa) does not appear to be an axe murderer. I tried to figure out what might make someone that paranoid but she was so agitated about the notion that I backed off. I think about that conversation from time to time. I thought of it again recently as we discussed the Schiavo case. It goes to the question of the level of of trust in our families and our institutions that we set as the default. You ask if it's too much to ask people to put some thought and effort into protecting themselves from their relatives and the medical community. I think that the better question is whether it is too much to ask people to put some thought and effort into picking their spouses. That risk is within the control of the individual and doesn't impose an undue burden on the rest of us.