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More than 40 Catholic institutions are to announce the largest ever faith-based divestment from fossil fuels, on the anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi.
The sum involved has not been disclosed but the volume of divesting groups is four times higher than a previous church record, and adds to a global divestment movement, led by investors worth $5.5tn.
[...] Assisi's mayor, Stefania Proietti – a former climate mitigation professor – told the Guardian: "When we pay attention to the environment, we pay attention to poor people, who are the first victims of climate change.
"When we invest in fossil fuels, we stray very far from social justice. But when we disinvest and invest in renewable and energy efficiency instead, we can mitigate climate change, create a sustainable new economic deal and, most importantly, help the poor."
Are they putting their money where their mouth is, or making a smart economic bet?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday October 06 2017, @08:11PM (4 children)
Phoenix, you are not a Christian then. You're some kind of vaguely Bible-flavored Deist. And you're giving Yahweh far too much credit. You're also giving the Bible too much credit; OF COURSE it has good stuff in it, it was written over centuries and centuries and something full of entirely bad advice won't survive.
And your God disagrees with "good people are good people no matter what their creed." Did you just not read ANY of my post at all? If you are a Christian or a Muslim, you believe that your God sentences nonbelievers to eternal torment. In fact, most churches would say that you yourself will end up in Hell because the above statement you made is directly contradictory to God's Revealed Word (TM).
Would you care to tell us what these "too good to be a coincidence" events were and how you know, for precisely certain, that they were not caused by any other being, circumstance, or condition?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Arik on Saturday October 07 2017, @07:36AM (1 child)
But who are you to decide who's a Christian?
"You're some kind of vaguely Bible-flavored Deist."
I didn't see any deism in his response. Certainly not any orthodox high church christianity either, but mysticism is no junior to orthodoxy in Christianity.
"And you're giving Yahweh far too much credit. You're also giving the Bible too much credit; OF COURSE it has good stuff in it, it was written over centuries and centuries and something full of entirely bad advice won't survive."
That's one narrative, the result of one frame of interpretation. The thing is like any work of literature, there are many frames that can be applied, not just one. There are also a very wide variety, not just interpretations of the bible, but of the relationship of the bible to christianity. You appear to be espousing the modern theory typical among fundamentalists that puts a literal reading of the bible at the center of what christianity means, perhaps only because that is what you have been most exposed to (or what made the strongest impression on you, at least) but that's just the most novel framing, not the only one by any means.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday October 08 2017, @07:11PM
...you DO realize you're talking to someone who's put, let's see here, nearly 12 years into the study of these things, correct? I can read some of it in the Koine, even.
All of this is completely missing the point. I *was* one of those mystics for a good long time before pulling my head out of my ass, learning some actual logic and philosophy, and testing the base, core concepts of Christianity. It's ridiculous all the way through, and blasphemous too.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday October 07 2017, @12:13PM (1 child)
I certainly could give you the specifics, but they wouldn't be meaningful to anyone but me because they weren't there, in my skin. Faith journeys are that way: highly personal. It's for that reason i would not try to convince you that you're wrong, that there is a god, and that everything you have experienced is wrong, that you've misperceived it. The things that have happened to you in your life are real and you're an intelligent person who has examined those events from every angle, so the conclusions you have reached are valid. For you.
I sense that you're wanting to prove me wrong, by redefining what i believe as something else to prove that i'm muddled and misguided. I believe you're doing it out of kindness; you think i'm in error and you're trying to help me out. But take a step back for a moment. Would it make sense for me to challenge something very personal about you that you know, that is part of your identity? What if i were to tell you that you're not really a lesbian, that you simply haven't found the right man yet? (I would never do that, BTW, and don't believe any of it, and apologize for its raising your hackles, but i'm using it to make a point) You would tell me to fuck right off. How could i possibly tell you that what you know in your heart is wrong?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday October 08 2017, @07:15PM
Nice false analogy there, buddy. People don't choose their sexual orientation (if we did, EVERY woman would be a lesbian). Religion, while socially influenced, is very much a lifestyle choice.
Nowhere in your posts do you address the actual thrust of my argument, which is 1) Yahweh's supposed attributes are incoherent, 2) but without them a being wouldn't be God, 3) observable reality is incompatible with any personal-being or egoic conception of the Divine, and 4) Yahweh acts like a demon.
And how many damn times do I need to say this? I am not an atheist! I believe there is a God, it just doesn't give a damn what we believe. It's the ultimate "it is" (where you lot go wrong and say it's the ultimate "I am").
I believe you when you say you have a social sciences background. That kind of postmodernist drivel and slimy, weaselly evasion is completely typical for the genre.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...