And the Pope is dead.

[Eric]

That was yesterday's new <_<;;

[kiwibonga]

I don't feel like mourning the pope... He represents everything I hate and fear about religion... From his war on contraception to his anti-modernism...

But well, no reason to dance on his grave either, I still have ethics ;o

[LearningD1]

meh the church supports not having sex till you're married... so the contraception thing wouldn't have been a big issue if everyone stopped having sex all over the place

[Arthropod]

anti-modernism...

Hm?

-Under his rule, the Vatican opened its first website(www.vatican.va) <-- nice design BTW
-He sent an e-mail to the clergy of the USA, being apologic about the pedophile priests
-He published five books, and tons of essays/poems
-He had a computer he frequently used

Yeah.

[AtheistFury]

It's not about being modern as in using computer or having a web-page opened under your reigns.
It's about not making changes and not adjusting the church's doctrines to the progress of the whole world. Matters like the mentioned contraception, the women priesthood (what's wrong in that?) or NOT ALLOWING YOUNG PRIESTS TO LEAVE THE CHURCH (yes, John Paul II, unlike many of his prerdecessors, dismissed the requests of 19-year-old-or-so men who for example fell in love or for some other reason found out that, after all, they don't really want to be priests).

@LearningD1: I'm sorry, your post is so stupid and immature that I'm not even bothering to argue.

[Eric]

-He had a computer he frequently used

Yeah.

I thought he was the kind of guy that didnt use computers... :huh:  

[uberbacon]

I am one of the new pope candidates, in fact

[nars2]

Religions suck to my mind. Simple as that.
Just give a quick look at history books to see how religions changed to adapt to their followers' needs. It's just uber ridiculous to see they've been trying to attract followers all this time, just as some coca-cola trend and so on.
I don't really care if there is a pope or not, I just find it a meaningless institution. I just pray for him as a normal soul passing away.

Religion is dangerous.

[tehFrenchee]

Nars, you're generalizing a big problem to one cause. The same problems religion has are the same governments have. These problems are caused by human nature. To me, having religious beliefs isn't a bad thing, its just how organized religion is conducted that ticks me off.

[nars2]

I completely agree frenchee. My point is people should find religion inside themselves, not on this institutions. I believe in God and many other things, but I'm not a follower of any religion in particular.
This institutions are human creations, I sincerely don't believe people should have faith on them, even though some really play an important role in our society.

[Sureth]

I don't feel like mourning the pope... He represents everything I hate and fear about religion... From his war on contraception to his anti-modernism...

That's the problem. You look at the pope and think of his religious ethics, not because of how many people he helped and what good he did as a person.

[AtheistFury]

You on the other hand seem to forget how many people suffered because of the last Pope...

Anyways, John Paul II was Polish. You wouldn't believe what's going on in Poland now that he died. It's fucking insane!
90% of TV channels turned their logos black. 10% of them stopped broadcasting (that's for real! They only show a static black image with some text like "Blah blah mourning blah Pope blah), some other emit Pope's photo instead of advertisements and previous.

Also, check out some major web portals in Poland:
http://www.wp.pl/
http://www.onet.pl/
http://www.interia.pl/v/index.html

Biggest newspapers:
http://www.gazeta.pl/0,0.html
http://www.rzeczpospolita.pl/

Mobile telephony operators:
http://www.idea.pl/
http://www.era.pl/

Biggest Polish IM:
http://www.gadu-gadu.pl/

It's like the world has ended. This is so fucking insane  :ph34r:  :ph34r:  :ph34r:  

[Papercut]

Scary. There is nothing more powerful than religion. This shit makes people do and feel things in such mass numbers it's staggering.

What is this power used for? Collecting donations, mass suicides, and scaring people into ways of thought they wouldn't normally be inclined to think.

Don't get me wrong, the idea of helping others and doing good is a fantastic idea, and bless the people that adhere to that philosophy, but the majority of people don't give a shit about anyone but themselves, aside from their immediate family and close friends. Feed the poor? Fuck that. Give money to the homeless? Fuck that. Treat others the way you'd like to be treated? Fuck that.

If you want to think of religion in the organized sense, you're wasting your time. Like nars said, you should find it within yourself. So where does "God" fit in this? Nowhere. I don't want to impose my beliefs (or, lack thereof) on people; I get enough of that shit from Christians trying to "save my soul." I'm not trying to preach anything on anyone; I'm just saying that organized religion is a powerful and scary thing.

That, and since I know nothing about the Pope or what he did, I can't say anything good or bad about him personally, but it sounds like he was an all-right guy.

[Sureth]

You on the other hand seem to forget how many people suffered because of the last Pope...

uh-huh. Sure, buddy. Whatever you say. JPII was secretly a Satanist and killed entire villages himself. He was NOTHING but trouble. That's why MILLIONS of people looked at him as a saint. Yeah, great argument there.

Also, good job at turning this thread into a religious debate, you pessimistic tools. That's exactly what a message board needs.

[AtheistFury]

You are right, this is not the right place to discuss matters of faith.

I admit Pope did loads of good things and had even better intentions probably.
My full answer to your post is here.