To be fair, it's not just Catholicism that is suffering from the bear-like stranglehold that conservatives have on it. It's virtually every religion that suffers a similar fate.
The impact on Hinduism in India primiarily, but also among the diaspora, and Islam (including in countries like the Saudi allies of the US) are there for all to see. Buddhism has been going through a similar intolerant fate in Sri Lanka, since the 1950s and their linguistic intolerance to the Tamils has taken a huge price. Whether that problem can be solved militarily is another question. 2009/11/29 Mario Goveia <[email protected]> > What about any of this is so difficult > to understand? Everyone has free choice, > and the Church is simply defending its > own closely-held beliefs from internal sabotage. The Church's "closely-held beliefs" are only a reflection of its own power structure. These have changed over time, and will continue to change. Pope John's reforms in Vatican II is a wholly different world from the reforms of a John Paul II or Benedict XVI. Likewise, an Archbishop Romero is another reality from those put into office by the past couple of popes. (Incidentally, here's a quote from Romero: "Justice is like a snake; it only bitest the barefooted!" But Catholicism is changing, and changing fast! In the Goa context, the majority of the priests today are coming from the sub-altern and dispossed sections. (The elites have other 'professional' avenues through which to exercise their hegemony.) Likewise, the bulk of the Catholics today are in the poorer parts of the globe, of Latin America and Africa ... and a few scattered in Asia too. That the papacy should go to the one of the wealthiest parts of one of the wealthiest countries of the globe is an abberation. It's hard to see this trend continuing for too long. I disagree with the Mario's that the "closely-held beliefs" are etched in stone. They are a reflection of the times, and will change with the times. FN -- Frederick Noronha :: +91-832-2409490 Writing, editing, alt.publishing, photography, journalism ANOTHER GOA: http://tiny.cc/anothergoa
