Why the attacks on Pope Francis? Republican media mad about Cuba?

[J_J_]

White House Credits Pope Francis for Facilitating Cuba Deal
http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/white-house-credits-pope-francis-for-facilitating-cuba-deal

Just noticed that people seem to be going after him, taking things out of context, blaming him the the entire history of the catholic church...

I know why the Republicans hate him as he explains to them that helping the poor is not communism, it is in the Bible.

Everything he has done directly points out their hypocrisy,lack of real morals, ethics, Christian values...

But why are some DUers so quick to attack?

He can help us fix this country by holding Republicans feet to the fire.

Why not cut him some slack and let him do that?

[Thinkingabout]

1. He does not fit the RW mold, he believes the sick and poor deserve compassion, he doesn't want

To live in the big house, drive the fancy cars and he tries to explain why this is wrong. He is a man of God who lives his role everyday, if ever this world needed Pope Francis it is now.

[Gman]

2. Because those folks also like attacking religion

Politics makes strange bedfellows.

[1StrongBlackMan]

12. +1.n/t

[KMOD]

19. +2

[Hekate]

34. +3

[Douglas Carpenter]

3. because he just made an appeal for tolerance and understanding

[Warren Stupidity]

5. in some alternate universe.

[MohRokTah]

7. No, he advocated violence against those who mock religion. eom

[Douglas Carpenter]

8. no he actually did not - he was being ironic and appealing for believers to be respectful

of other peoples' religions. The man has a sense of humor and I like that.

[MohRokTah]

11. Bullshit.

The man said if you mock religions, expect violence.

Fuck the dumbass SOB.

[Douglas Carpenter]

13. oh for crying out loud - he made the comment with a chuckle - for goodness sakes

he was appealing to Catholics to respect other religions. That is a great step forward. In the past week DU has been half a much loony land as Free Republic. My whole premise that liberals are smarter and more tolerant has been completely torn to shreds this past week on DU

[oberliner]

14. Should liberals be more tolerant of Republicans? Of Conservatives?

Respect their deeply held beliefs? Do not say anything that might serve to provoke them?

[Douglas Carpenter]

15. of course not

but there is a general rule of thumb I was told years ago by someone - It might have been my grandmother:
Never mock a persons family, country or religion. It is just too personal. I'm not talking about making it the law - There is no law that says people should try to be nice. I just think of it as common decency.

[oberliner]

16. Then why be tolerant of other similarly misguided ideologies?

I don't see what the virtue is in that. It seems, in fact, to be the responsibility of liberals to do exactly the opposite.

[muriel_volestrangler]

35. Why 'of course not' in that case, when you think we should be respectful of all religions?

Why does the addition of the supernatural to a philosophy make it something that should be respected regardless of its real-world attitudes?

[ND-Dem]

41. too esoteric for some here to grasp.

[MohRokTah]

17. So he laughed at advocating violence.

That makes him even worse.

[BootinUp]

58. I think you slipped a cog this time man.

[MohRokTah]

59. I think the Pope apologists slipped a cog. eom

[BootinUp]

57. This was the first time? lollol.

Your premise is actually correct, the problem is using DU as the test bed for it.

[n2doc]

39. He made an appeal for censorship

Cannot is different than "should not"

[Warren Stupidity]

4. How about because he just stuck his foot so far down his mouth that he can walk on it?

[MohRokTah]

6. He said anybody who mocks religion can expect violence.

I have no respect for ANY religious leader that says that shit.

[KMOD]

18. That's not what he said.

He said if you insult my mother, you can expect a punch.

He also said, "One cannot make war (or) kill in the name of one's own religion," Francis said on his way to the Philippines. "... To kill in the name of God is an aberration."

[MohRokTah]

21. That is what he said.

I'll not accept apologist BS interpretation. I read the article. You mock religion, you can expect to get punched.

Fuck the asshole POS. He's no different from any other violent religious leader.

[KMOD]

22. can you give me a link?

because the article I read

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/14/asia/philippines-pope-francis-visit/

he says what I posted he said.

[MohRokTah]

23. Even in your link, he's saying expect violence if you mock religion.

An apologist spokesman tried to damp down what he said afterwards as damage control.

Fuck this Pope. I used to think he was great, now I think he's a piece of shit no better than any other relgious leader, which is to say he's fucked up.

[KMOD]

24. I'm just not seeing it.

Our interpretations are different.

[MohRokTah]

25. There are none so blind as those who won't see. eom

[KMOD]

26. OK, then point me to what I'm missing,

I am not reading anything that says he advocates what you say.

[MohRokTah]

27. 1) If friend curses my mother, he can expect me to punch him.

2) Those who mock my religion can expect the same.

Pretty damned clear to me.

Fuck this Pope.

[KMOD]

29. I read it again,

"One cannot provoke, one cannot insult other people's faith, one cannot make fun of faith."

Is that the part that upsets you?

eh, he can't stop you. If you want to make fun of his faith, go ahead. He also stated it is wrong to kill someone over this, and that Freedom of Speech is essential.

You're not forced to follow his advice.

[MohRokTah]

30. He'll punch me if I do

Ergo, he says violence in response is okay.

[KMOD]

31. He'll punch you if you curse his mom

Probably a dumb thing for him to say, but it doesn't really faze me. Many people will react that way.

I have no stake in this. My Grandfather was an Irish Catholic and my Grandmother was a German Lutheran. I guess they compromised somewhere and my mom was raised Methodist.

Things got a little rough for my mom when I was young, and she found her Methodist Church to be hypocritical. She then dragged me to many churches of different denominations trying to find one she agreed with. When she couldn't find one, she gave up.

I was then basically raised to live by the Golden Rule. It works just fine for me.

[MohRokTah]

32. Which means he is not Christlike.

Matthew 5:44

[MohRokTah]

28. BTW, had this asshole of a Pope been Christlike, he would have responded simply.

Bless those who curse your religion and pray for them.

That is what Christ directed in the Sermon on the Mount.

And Christians wonder why I reject their fucked up interpretations of Christ.

[liberal_at_heart]

37. I certainly don't think this pope meant to provoke violence, but I agree he could have

just said to bless and pray for those who curse your religion. Definitely not a good joke.

[ND-Dem]

42. do you have a link to where you thought he was great?

[MFrohike]

9. Honestly?

He told assholes not to act like assholes and that's apparently beyond the pale. The resident anti-Catholic brigade will seize any opportunity to practice the most enduring prejudice of the left.

[Gman]

38. It's the one place they can release their pent up

Innate need to hate. Have to be a good liberal everywhere else. So it's a feel good thing and they think it's being a good liberal.

[MFrohike]

47. Amen

It's the modern-day version of the Know-Nothings.

[progressoid]

44. When he told assholes not to act like assholes, most liberals thought it was wonderful.

Gosh, what a breath of fresh air - a man of the cloth finally acting like, well, a semi-decent human. But, strangely, we're supposed to ignore the rest of the heinous acts of churches and their leaders. Because that would be prejudice???

[MFrohike]

46. We have crossed wires

It's one thing to legitimately criticize a church or religion with actual facts. It's another to rant and rave about the child rape scandal in reference to Francis when he's the guy who apologized for it, not the guy who covered it up. If you want to criticize the church's position on homosexuality, the ordination of women, birth control, or abortion, be my guest. If you want to simply take the chance to level crude insults, it ends up reeking of anti-Catholicism. The same is true when people declare that anyone who doesn't leave the church automatically supports everything the hierarchy does or says. Using that logic, anybody who didn't leave America while W and co. were busy invading everything in sight were cheerleaders for it.

It's not the criticism because no organization, or person, on earth is immune from it (nor should it be, when warranted). It's the tone. It's asinine, because Catholics have been the backbone of the Democratic party since the days of Andrew Jackson and theories of social justice, even the phrase, trace back to Pope Leo XIII. He put forth the original "third way" which was a path between communist revolution and laissez-faire capitalism. In economic terms, it's what we call mid-century American liberalism.

Don't get me wrong, you can criticize the hierarchy quite a bit. I often do it myself. When your criticism is nothing but vitriol and bullshit, don't be surprised if it's called prejudice.

[Skittles]

51. LOL, someone who practices misogyny and homophobia telling us not to act like assholes

NIIIIIIIIIICE

[beam me up scottie]

53. Oh, he wants you to give more of your money to the poor, too.

You know, since he's such a pauper.

[arcane1]

10. His WORDS are attacked when he says stupid shit, and praised when he says smart shit.

As it should be!

[Douglas Carpenter]

20. because Pope Francis is the single largest advocate for economic justice and peace in the world

[beam me up scottie]

33. Because he's a homophobic, misogynistic bigot.

Just noticed that people seem to be going after him, taking things out of context, blaming him the the entire history of the catholic church...

He's getting the blame for the things he's said and done.

When he stops using his wealth and influence to subjugate lgbt people and women I'll cut him some slack.

Until then, fuck him and every other religious extremist.

[liberal_at_heart]

36. I didn't hear Democrats call Obama homophobic when believed marriage was between a man and

a woman. This pope has single handedly brought the church forward by hundreds of years.

[beam me up scottie]

43. The pope calls gay people 'disordered' and says their children are victims.

I called President Obama homophobic when he was against same sex marriage and rightly so.

But that pales in comparison to the hate speech Francis uses when he talks about gay people.

So, again, the pope is a religious bigot who deserves every bit of venom directed at his homophobic, misogynistic, pedophile protecting wrinkled ass.

Fuck him and anyone who defends his bigotry.

[progressoid]

45. A lot of DUers are no longer here because of the Obama/LGBT wars.

Some left out of anger and others were TSed. The primaries and election were not pretty for LGBT.

To be fair, it wasn't just Obama that didn't support LGBT rights, much of the party leadership was too chickenshit to do the right thing.

[NYC Liberal]

52. Because President Obama NEVER said any of the horrific things Bergolio/Francis said about gays.

This pope believes that: same-sex marriage is an evil, Satanic plot; that gay couples adopting is child abuse; that we suffer from a condition and are disordered.

What Obama believed about marriage was wrong. Yes. But he was not and never has been the kind of bigot that Francis still is to this day.

And, no, Francis has not "single handedly brought the church forward by hundreds of years." What you're seeing is a very coordinated and concerted PR effort begun several years ago that is headed by a right-wing former Fox News reporter. On the issues, Francis is right in line with his predecessors. Benedict denounced capitalism and economic inequality just as forcefully as Francis has – though most might not know that because Francis has a better PR team. All style, no substance. Everything Francis has said has simply restated long-held Church teachings. "Don't judge gays"? Been in the Catechism for years. (Though he neglected to mention that it's because we have a disorder, so it's not really our fault as long as we stay celibate.) Evolution" Been Church teaching for a century. Etc. Etc.

[Behind the Aegis]

50. Shhhh...don't say nothing, but...

Pope Francis: Same-sex marriage ‘disfigures God’s plan for creation’

[beam me up scottie]

54. Oh, again with teh gays are attacking traditional marriage...

Well, he's also blaming women who use birth control so at least you're not the only ones destroying families.

[Behind the Aegis]

55. We have tried to make babies....maybe one of us infertile!

[beam me up scottie]

56. LOL!

I have the opposite problem, nothing puts a damper on your sex life like worrying about having dem bebbies.

[mmonk]

40. Because of the Roman Curia.

Many think any Catholic should have it hung around their neck, even if said person could be an ally on some issues.

[blackcrow]

48. There's a deep hatred of Christianity on DU

from people unfamiliar with it's actual values. It's like the rightwingers who have no clue about liberal values, and it's okay with DU admins.

[uriel1972]

49. Damn I must be looking at some other DU.... nt

[Augustus]

60. So go ahead and familiarize us

Is it untrue that Christianity promotes the idea that homosexuality is a sin? Is it untrue that Christianity promotes the idea that abortion is murder? Is it untrue that Christianity promotes the idea that sex outside of marriage is a sin?

You can scream about all the other noble values of Christianity until you're blue in the face, but you must take the bad along with the good. And in the end, if you disagree to the three I just listed, or any other "values" of Christianity, then you're simply picking and choosing which values of Christianity you want, and that means you do not get your morality from Christianity at all.

[uppityperson]

61. Yes, those are untrue. At least the Christianity I was raised with, those are untrue.

There are extremists and fundamentalists, like in every faith, that use their religion to limit and harm rather than promote tolerance and humaneness.

If you think those statements are true, as you wrote, "then you're simply picking and choosing which values of Christianity you want, and that means you do not get your morality from Christianity at all."

[SidDithers]

62. Pope, in Philippines, says same-sex marriage threatens family

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1500200.htm

Appealing to the traditional values of Filipino Catholic families, Pope Francis made one of his strongest calls as pope against movements to recognize same-sex unions as marriage. "The family is also threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage," the pope said Jan. 16, hours after warning that Philippine society was "tempted by confusing presentations of sexuality, marriage and the family."

"As you know, these realities are increasingly under attack from powerful forces which threaten to disfigure God's plan for creation and betray the very values which have inspired and shaped all that is best in your culture," he said. Pope Francis made his remarks at a Mass in Manila's cathedral and then at a meeting with families in the city's Mall of Asia Arena.

At the latter event, the pope called on his listeners to resist "ideological colonization that threatens the family." The Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, said later that the pope was referring to same-sex marriage, among other practices.

The pope's comments came less than a week after a speech to Vatican diplomats in which he criticized "legislation which benefits various forms of cohabitation rather than adequately supporting the family for the welfare of society as a whole," saying that such legislation had contributed to a widespread sense of the family as "disposable."

Sid