21stTNCav said:
Although I respect Mrs Tee and Lamar immensely, the conversation between them is why the rubber room is needed. Their conversation needs to be in the Religion area, but there is none. Ultimately Politics and Religion will bleed into the other threads. Before if some one was getting a little out of hand the thread could be removed to these places. What will happen now. If someone complains about what Tee and Lamar are talking about will it get removed? That is the only option now and that will make folks who have their post removed resentful. We do need the bleeder valve that is the rubber room or pressure will build. I hope careful consideration is given to this subject. And Lamar, I understand your feelings about the Catholic Church, but since you did not like what was said in the Rubber Room about it, are you really ready for it too show up here? I would bet if the RR does not come back such discussions will more than likely show up on threads like everything else.
Dear21stTNCav;
I understand your point of view, my friend, however my particular point of view is that *hatred is hatred*. To me it does not matter what sort of special label a person places upon it, be it anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, Racism, whatever, it's ALL hatred. I feel that the Rubber Room should remain closed for the simple fact that this forum does not have a neo-Nazi section, a KKK section or a Black Panther section, therefore why should this forum have a section dedicated to anti-Catholicism?
As a Roman Catholic I was taught practically from birth to ignore the anti-Catholic hatred but today I am no longer ignoring it. For over 500 years my faith has had to endure this garbage and why should we continue to do so? The ONLY reason why I became so predominate in the Religion Section was to do my share to combat anti-Catholicism.
Certainly I hurtled my share of insults and I will freely admit to this without reservation but one needs to ask them-self WHY did I do that? Because I grew tired of the hatred, therefore I retaliated the only way I knew how to, by using tit-for-tat. Please note that I am not only dedicated to combatting anti-Catholicism, but ALL FORMS of hatred. I will defend the Jewish faith with the same vigor and devotion as I do my own, for I believe in the FREEDOM to worship as a person sees fit without fear of reprisal or prejudice.
I started posting in the Religion Section with the single-minded goal of ending the prejudice. It has ended and I most definitely do NOT wish to see it return! Good riddance to that section. People do not seem to realize that as Roman Catholics, we are fed up with people pointing their fingers at us and stating things like :
"Your Church is the harlot of Babylon"
or
" You are a pagan because you worship statues"
or
"You are a Roman Catholic therefore YOU are PERSONALLY responsible for the deaths of 186 MILLION innocent people!"
or
"Your Church helped ex-Nazis"
or
"Catholics don't really pray to God, instead you all just recite prayers on beads"
or
"There was a Pope Joan"
And on and on, Ad infinitum.
People do not typically make these sorts of statements about Hindus, Buddhists or Muslims, therefore why should MY faith be so different? If one were to make the same statements against ANY OTHER religious denomination, that person would be instantly labeled as a bigot and a hater, yet it's tolerated against Roman Catholics and, from my point of view it seems to be fashionable to hate us.
It is only through ignor@nce that people are like this and if they REALLY wished to understand the historical facts or the different facets of my faith, all they need to do is to ask politely and I would be absolutely tickled pink to answer them in an intelligent and respectful manner.
Instead people see fit to accuse Roman Catholics of all sorts of nonsense without knowing the factual reasons behind our particular form of worship and not WANTING to know the reasons. For example, if a person wished to actually know about the Rosary, they COULD ask me something like:
"Yo Lamar! I've heard that Catholics are taught to pray by using beads to keep count and that you guys do not actually talk to God. What's up with this? Is there any truth to this? What's the story with the prayer beads?"
If someone were to approach the subject in a manner such as this I would be absolutely THRILLED to explain the Roman Catholic concept of mysticism and becoming closer to God. It's actually a form of deep meditation and by reciting the same prayer over and over one enters into a deep form of spiritual meditation, if done correctly of course. That is the whole point behind reciting the rosary.
Of course nobody seems to want to know any of that because they are content to belittle my Catholic practices and rituals. And that is a form of hatred. It's like " I hate you because I do not understand you and what's more I have no desire to understand you, therefore I am content to continue hating you because you carry prayer beads in your pocket and wear a crucifix around your neck."
Hatred is wrong and it must stop and one of the best ways to halt it to be intolerant of it. I am intolerant of it and obviously Marc Austin shares the same level of intolerance as myself. If someone is intolerant of my faith, why should I continue being tolerant of theirs?
Your friend;
LAMAR