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Pope decries godless nature of modern societies
Victor L. Simpson , The Associated Press , Rome | Sun, 10/05/2008 4:49 PM | Headlines
Pope Benedict XVI warned Sunday that modern culture is pushing God out of people's lives, causing nations once rich in religious faith to lose their identities.
Benedict celebrated a Mass in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls to open a worldwide meeting of bishops on the relevance of the Bible for contemporary Catholics.
"Today, nations once rich in faith and vocations are losing their own identity, under the harmful and destructive influence of a certain modern culture," said Benedict, who has been pushing for religion to be given more room in society.
The meeting of 253 bishops, known as a synod of bishops, will run from Monday through Oct. 26. The Vatican said that despite Benedict's efforts to improve relations with Communist China, no bishops have come from the mainland, although there are prelates from Macau and Hong Kong.
"Surely they tried, I mean the Holy See tried but obviously they could not make agreement," Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen told AP Television News as he entered the basilica.
"Maybe the Holy See welcomes someone that they (the Chinese) would not allow," he said, adding that China might try to send a bishop who is not acceptable to the Holy See.
Chinese bishops have not been allowed to travel to similar meetings in the past.
Ties between the Vatican and China's communist government have long been strained. Beijing objects to the Vatican's tradition of having the pope name his own bishops, calling it interference in China.
China appoints bishops for the state-sanctioned Catholic church. In recent years, some of those bishops have received the Vatican's tacit approval.
Still, many of the country's estimated 12 million Catholics worship in congregations outside the state-approved church with bishops loyal to the pope.
A document prepared for the meeting rejects a fundamentalist approach to the Bible and said a key challenge was to clarify for the faithful the relationship of scripture to science. A rabbi will address the conference on Monday in what is believed to be the first time a Jew has participated in such a meeting.
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Rafiq Mahmood, Bogor (not verified) — Mon, 10/06/2008 - 4:49am
The problem is, Brien, that you are falling into the trap of thinking that materialistic capitalist culture and religion are at odds with one another. They are not. They are two sides of the same counterfeit coin and support each other.
The religionists make us believe that it is necessary to march to their tune in order to reach God and spiritual fulfilment. The capitalists make us believe that it is necessary to march to their tune in order to reach wealth and sensual fulfilment. They are both deceivers and their tune is exactly the same; it is the drum beat of war, hatred and destruction.
If humanity is to be anything other than a cancer on the face of the earth then it must regain the art of individual thought and stop being the slaves of either the corporate machine or the rabble-rousing of Hizbut-Tahrir or American creationists.
The most insidious threat is in our classrooms where we have returned to the doctrine of Mr Gradgrind of Hard Times who treated pupils as pitchers to be filled to the brim with hard facts. Our students are tested to destruction with multiple choice (i.e., restricted choice) questions. They are asked, "Which is the correct answer, which is the absolute truth, a, b, c or d?"
Once upon a time we were given a statement or scenario and commanded: "Discuss."
We have lost, or are in grave danger of losing, the art of discourse under the crushing weight of the absolute truth dictated by both national curricula and holy books. We only know how to regurgitate meaningless gobbledegook or to shout slogans.
The loss of thought is the loss of everything.
Brien (not verified) — Sun, 10/05/2008 - 6:39pm
This Pope speaks as though losing a religious 'identity' is something bad, vis a vis harmful and destructive. It is precisely religion that has slowed world progress and education by its fantastical lies and inter-religious hatred.
He is pushing to give religion more room in society?! It has held 'privileged status' in societies for centuries with its control over the minds and bodies of the citizenry. Yes, this Pope prefers not the modern culture of liberty and free thinkers but the primitive fear-ridden oppressed culture of the past.
He wants hell on earth.