Catholics don't believe God speaks directly to the pope or that he is a prophet so that one isn't quite the same.Catholics also do not accord him the same blind obedience that Mormons give the prophet.
I see parallels between the witch hunts funded by the Catholic church and the mormon gay discrimination.
One huge advantage to being a Catholic though is that the religion has been around long enough to be taken with a grain of salt. Many Catholics are able to pick and choose without being persecuted. They attend Christmas and Easter mass with their kids, watch the Pope make a fool of himself and critically pull him apart while proudly owning up to their membership in a very old church. One that has occasionally had the balls to apologize for obvious crimes and discrimination. This is something I can't see the mormon church ever doing. Not for it's horrific history of racial discrimination nor for it's ongoing discrimination against same sex lifestyles.
Perhaps when they have outgrown the pimply phase and have been around for another 1000 years?
Witch hunts were hardly confined to the Catholic church. The famous American with hunts in Salem were Puritan, not Catholic. Catholics did participate in the late middle ages but they did not invent the idea of witches which goes back to antiquity and Protestants were at least as guilty.The believe in witches is world wide and not confined to either Catholics or Christians
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2012 05:07AM by bona dea.
Bona dea, I was no more trying to pin the blame on the Catholic church than you are rectifying (Catholic funded) witch burnings by pointing out the longer history of puritan involvement. ;) Thanks for pointing it out though. It was more my intention to point out how progressive the Catholic church is (and perhaps it's members) compared to the Mormon church. I've never heard an official apology from a GA regarding priesthood and race.
Like I said, witch hunts existed long before the Catholic church and were not confined to it or Christians. Belief in witches is widepread. Yes, they did it but they didn't invent it or do it as much or more than a lot of others. Just saying.s pretty wide. Just wondering why you are making a big deal of the Catholics doing it when the ancients did it, the Africans did and the Puritans did it right here in Protestant America?
I know you are making parallels but they tend to lose their importance if the thing is extremely wide spread.I think you could say the same thing about covering up abuse. Abuse is widespread in the worlds in general and human beings tend to cover up embarrassing, not to mention illegal activities because they don't want to go to jail. It is human nature..
"Just wondering why you are making a big deal of the Catholics doing it"
Beacause ever since I was baptized, it has been taught - up until years ago - that the Catholic church is the great and abominable church mentioned in BoM, and that TSCC despises it - see "The Great Apostasy" in which Protestant theologies and attacks are quoted against the Catholic church.
I think, by pointing out the parallels, we are able to see TSCC has fallen into what they loathed.
"I know you are making parallels but they tend to lose their importance if the thing is extremely wide spread."
If we apply that to TSCC that are widespread, then nothing TSCC has done is justified and purely human. For example, the altering of the content of BoM is not relevant because the content of the Bible has been altered as well.
My mum's a convert from Austrian Catholicism so gives me a perspective. Austria used to be a very Catholic country and governments shook with fear when Cardinals were displeased. My mother turning LDS was rebellion, hard to believe now.
Both have caused a tremendous amount of damage imho, but key difference for me now is that the Catholic Hierarchy's concern with inactives is at more of an intellectual level than an individual one. Their records are vague, they don't come around your house if you don't come to mass, and they don't expect your parents to pass on your address (thanks for that, mother). The Priest is in charge, it's not the job of the rest of the congregation to worry about your mortal soul. No-one hangs around after mass.
It's easy to see how the Saints, starting with such small numbers, and suspicious of outside influences, took a 'no-one left behind' approach to inactive members, whereas 'institutional arrogance' for want of a better expression, gave Catholic Priests better things to do than chase people they barely knew. I find their theology just as objectionable, they just don't chase me down the street with it.
Will not knowingly give communion to a person who is gay and sexually active. (I could be wrong about that and there is probably more lenience in the catholic church.)
Believe in large families and discourage limiting the number of children.
but the MORmONS dont call theirs a trinity even though it definitely is a trinity, even though its not exactly the same trinity as the catholic trinity, out of contempt for catholic concepts .... that MORmONS frequently copycat.
If I had to chose between Catholicism and Mormonism I would chose the Catholic church any day.
I like the Mass which is respectful of human dignity and uplifting, and how they manage to fit praying for self and others, plus worshipping God into a mere 45 minutes on Sundays.
Other than that, I appreciate the total anonymity the Catholic church gives to its members. You can go a lifetime without any involvement with church leaders and still be a good Catholic.
No one forces members to confession or attendance. If you do not like a priest or certain members,you can attend at another diocese. Pure bliss.
Catholicism also has the better music and better art, lol.