Quad 4's beat me to the punch in regards to priests molesting children, damn it! :p
My parents were both raised Catholic but my late mother made it point to not indoctrinate us children and did not take us to church or force feed us faith. She let us decide on our own and the results were two atheists and a "spiritual but not religious". My mother also fell into the later category and my father is one of those "lapsed Catholics" that never goes to church unless his wife is helping out with bingo. I find the Catholic Church to be utterly vile, moreso than most Christian sects.
I hate to sound like a braggart or a shit or a pig but all I'll say is this: I SHOULD have been high-fived instead of Doug.
I knew it was a only a matter of time before Boid got himself banned. I have only come across a person so clueless on these boards once in all my years, and that other person has an archive board in honor of his idiocy on this very forum. I gave him more than enough chances, perhaps too many, but better to throw him out late than never.
I concur with the "controversial topics": I am very interested in public discourse, which is why I pressed X for clarification on his stance.
My only regret with Boid was I was looking forward to his argument about why the NL Central was better than the AL East, but oh well, he's gone, and I'm more than happy with it. Not only was the guy routinely offensive, but he made posts and threads at a rate where in about a year, he'd have more posts than you and I, and we've been here MUCH longer than he has. That's the last I will say about him.
My Mom was brought up Greek Orthodox but poo-pooed her up bringing and converted to Catholism when I received my first communion. Interestingly enough, my grandmother passed away back in mid April, so I went to a Greek Ortodox service for her. Very interesting. Most of it is Greek, and the look of the church is very Mediterranean. If the Catholic church is "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," The Greek Orthodox church is a Hammer Mummy flick.
My Dad total Catholic and believes it all to the letter, no variation. Whatever works for him, I guess, but it's not for me. I was a total believer until I was 18. I took a religions of the world course and came to the realization that what most people believe is based on the culture they were brought up in more than any universial truth. My Catholic side is all Eastern European and Italian descent, all I'm missing is the Irish.
I believe there could be a higher power, we have no proof either way. I just believe all of man's perceptions of a higher power are probably skewed. Another thing, I think the things Jesus says, whether he was real, a prophet, the son of God, or a figment of somebody's imagination, actually make a lot of sense. The guy spoke of love, I just don't feel many organizations that act in his name promote the same thing.
