Roman Catholicism

1. On the admission of guilt, yes those acts were terrible. However, was it the religion itself that did those actions or was it people within the religion that did those actions? The Pope was apologizing for acts of individuals within the Church. The Roman Catholic Church has never had a dogma or doctrine mandating the things you have mentioned. Individuals within the Church used the gift of free will to make atrocious decisions. The Church itself did not partake in a horrible action. In fact, when these people committed such acts, they were in blatant contradiction of the Church which could be grounds for excommunication from the Church. Also, there is no sin that cannot be forgiven. That is a key point of the Church. The Church is a place for sinners to be forgiven. Now about hope. Let us assume Catholicism is false. Lets assume religion is a lie and there is no omnipotent force in the universe. Then what? Life ends in a tragedy. We die and rot. We all suffer the same fate. All of our achievements are meaningless since all things die out in infinite darkness. All the pain we suffer on earth will not ever be reconciled. Everyone suffers without true joy. There is no hope for anything in that existence since all ends in a cold nihilistic finale. Lets assume now that Catholicism is true. That means life ends in glory. Everything we do on earth then matters. We live and become complete in heaven with perfect and eternal happiness. Believers have that hope. And in the words of the famous movie Shawshank "Hope is a great thing, maybe the best of things. And a good thing never dies." The people who advocated for the Inquisition were actually in blatant contradiction with the Church teachings and are on the grounds for excommunication from the Church. And I do believe a lot of Catholics helped the Jews during WWII. Certainly, not everyone did enough to help the Jews, but I am not sure specifically what you are referring to. 2. If we recall correctly, God created us in His own image. He made us, in the beginning, as perfect. However, due to human use of free will, humanity has taken actions that have resulted in our falling. God gave us free will so we are not slaves. We choose to do sin or to do good. God has never decided that for us. Thus He did not make us sick, we made ourselves sick. And in order to argue that Catholicism is true, I have to have a foundation. First I would have to argue that a creator exists, who I choose to call God. I am not sure what your current stance on that is: Whether a creator exists or not. 3. Yes the actions are what matters. But ask yourself, did the Church itself itself participate in immoral actions, or did individuals within the Church participate in immoral actions? Another way to think about it is: If one player in baseball uses steroids, do you conclude then that the entire team is guilty on the grounds that one individual took steroids? No. If certain members within the Church rape children, is it fair to condemn the entire Church which directly speaks against pedophilia? No. You are applying the logical fallacy of Common Application to an entire group for the actions of certain individuals within that group. And no, the Church stands firm on celibacy within the Church. There is nothing wrong with remaining strong on virtue. 4. Well first of all, women are not allowed to become ministers under the teachings of the Catholic Church for a few reasons: a. The priest represents Christ during the consecration of the bread and wine. He acts "in persona Christi"-the image of Christ. The means that, in order to display effective symbolism, the priest MUST be a male since Jesus was a male. It would be like if a female played the role of Spartacus in the movie 300. Would that accurately represent the historical nature of the events? Of course not. b. Also, tradition does not allow for it. Jesus never appointed a female as a priest (one of the 12). It would further severe the historical authenticity of the sacrament itself. It cannot be done. Now, we have to understand abortion is the killing of an innocent human being and therefore, violates natural rights to life and is wrong and should be illegal. that is a whole other debate, but if you want, you can look at my profile where I argue effectively upon why abortion is immoral. The Church has never proclaimed in doctrine or dogma that women should not have paying jobs. The Church openly supports human equality. And I am confused as to which specific statistic shows that missionary Churches directly result in higher mortality rates. Could you provide that specifically in the text? 5. Well, this is a tough question. We have to understand the historical context of the crusades. Muslim forces invaded the Holy Land by force, murdered innocent Catholics, and set up shop in a district not rightfully theres obtained through oppression. As a response, Catholics had a right to go to war in order to end the persecution of their fellow people. They had a right to life that needed to be protected. However, some aspects of the crusades were immoral such as the attempted usage of children in the Children's Crusade. As a whole, the Crusades are permissible, but certain aspects are immoral. 6. I do not interpret the Bible. The Magisterium, guided by the Holy Spirit as well as years of earthly study and reason interpret the Bible for me. That is their sole job. It is not my intended job to interpret the Bible. What you would be implying is the foundation for the Protestant reformation. Sola Scriptura is what you are referencing when asking if I interpret the Bible which is strictly teaching of Martin Luther, not the Catholic Church. But, there are both historical and metaphorical aspects to the Bible which have been interpreted by the Magisterium. Given all these, the stories in the Bible make sense. 7. I do not have a "fetish" for Catholicism because a. My belief is not irrational b. Believing in God is more than just worshiping a spirit. But I do digress. Lets think about this logically: According to the law of non-contradiction, if one religion (or lack of) must be true, then all others must be false. So If i honestly believe Catholicism to be the true religion, and if it is, then all other religions must be false. Does that mean I hate other sects? No. Thats silly. However, there are logically mistaken in their beliefs. And I would argue why their religion is and mine is not. And if it can be proven that my religion is false, then I would want to follow whichever is the objective truth. I have not really thought about this, but my gut would say, based on the fact that both are objectively false, then I would prefer a false belief if those beliefs are just. But I will think about that question some more.