Silly Extremists.

    Well, this should go over well...

Pope: Other Christians not true churches

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press Writer

LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation. (link to full story)

    Really now.  Why do people even bother with religion anymore these days?  Isn't it just better to accept the fact that humanity has evolved to the point where religion is unnecessary?  It's one thing to believe in some sort of God, but it's a whole 'nother kettle of fish to demand that your beliefs are the only ones that matter to anyone other than you.

    The strange thing is, I am stunned that the Catholic church would have the audacity to make such silly proclamations in light of the current controversies surrounding all religions.  And, the truly funny thing is that we are inexorably moving into this new 21st Century, and the philosophies of these religions are simply an antiquated anchor around our necks.  And, from this article, it's as though the Catholic church has become a screeching, terrified child clinging to parental coat-tails and wailing about how it doesn't want to go through the big spooky door between the 20th and 21st Centuries.  And, rather than adapt to inevitable progression of humanity, it chooses to remain in a "safe" little world where it believes it has control over the lives of others.

     Personally, I think if a religious belief is so stringent as to not bend with the constant ideological changes that come with the passage of time and human advancement, then that belief is certainly not worth having.  Philosophical dead weight is just that: dead weight.  After all, how can we become better as a species if we do not embrace our own potential to become better?

    My advice, forwhat it's worth, is to give this still-new Pope an iPod and a iPhone, then show him a calendar, give him a pat on his pointy little miter, and say "Welcome to the 21st Century, Benny.  Don't screw it up."  


-DP