politicartoons | (no subject)

Ah, our true religion!

I imagine outcomes like this are a sop to the masses
as they continue consolidating the plutocracy. "The people
want some Christianity; we can give them that, and
maybe they will be more quiescent as we create our
own heaven on earth with our riches and power."

And there's only one religion that we're "free" to have imposed upon us at every turn:
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This story broke yesterday: (http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/pope-calls-wealth-redistribution)
In one of the most economically liberal statements made by any Pope, Francis called for “the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the State, as well as indispensable cooperation between the private sector and civil society.”Francis criticized global wealth inequality and the growing level of poverty and hunger.

Edited 2014-05-10 05:17 (UTC)

How much of the Vatican's wealth has he redistributed so far?

I'm not privy to that (it's a complex subject), but he's disciplined bishops for living in grand mansions. (http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/03/bling_bishop_an_example_for_njs_catholics_editorial.html) And he continually surprises people. So it's a constant work in process. For a major public figure in the West, and a religious one at that, to call for this is remarkable for me, especially so close on the heels of the previous pope who was so traditional

What's the poverty rate for Vatican City?

More appropriately, what is the poverty rate for Catholic dominated countries?

How many Catholic theocratic states are there? If you don't mean outright theocratic domination of the country, what is your metric for a catholic dominated country? Majority population? Majority elected officials?

Start with Latin America. I know evangelicals have made advances there in the past few decades, but essentially the entire region was Catholic for two centuries. Where do you think the Vatican's wealth came from?

That's not an answer to my question of the metric you are using!

What countries are directly under papal rule such that the pope has the authority to directly dictate policy?

none. Where did the Vatican's wealth come from?

So your upset with the pope for not instituting state programs to redistribute wealth despite him not having the power to institute such programs?

And as tele pointed out, he has publicly scolded opulent priests,

No, I asked how much of the Vatican's wealth he had redistributed. It has zero to do with the governments of the respective states the Vatican took the money from. If he is going to get all morally superior, he ought to start in his own back yard and redistribute the Vatican's billions and direct churches in poor countries to divest themselves as well. Scolding doesn't mean shit.

"If you want to control a population, give them a god to worship." -Noam Chomsky

"If there were no god it would be necessary to invent him".
Voltaire

God is Dead, and we have killed him!

Then we need to invent a new one.

Well, this was inevitable:

Florida Town Must Open Meeting With Satanic Prayer Or Violate Supreme Court Ruling
http://crooksandliars.com/2014/05/florida-town-must-open-meeting-satanic