Reply #63: His fight for freedom for the people in communist blocked nations

[merh]

is part of his legacy. Raygun did not make the berlin wall fall, it was the efforts of Pope John Paul II and his standing with the Polish people and the solidarity movement that was the catalyst.

I suggest you read about his life and his efforts. You won't find him perfect, but you will discover he did some pretty impressive things.

IMHO - MLK would have a hard time justifying civil unions and gay rights with his religious beliefs and they probably would not be a part of his battle for civil rights if he were alive today. Gay rights is a very divisive issue in the black community and one of the reasons why many voted for the weed over Kerry.

I don't agree with the pope's stand on gay rights, abortion, birth control or the involvement of women in the church, but I recognize his influence in the end of the cold war and in bringing freedom of religion to many nations that had banned religions of all types. I also know that he condemned the war, to the weed's face, and he opposed violence and capital punishment, he spoke out against the torture and he asked the Jews to forgive the Catholic church for closing its eyes on the Nazi genocide. He wasn't perfect, he had flaws, but he also did some pretty important things.

I don't know what Ghandi or MLK or JFK or RFK would have to say about the issues of today, they were not exposed to the issues and to assume they would include the issues in their civil rights struggles is just assuming too much. They were all born and raised in a different time and they lived in different times.