I agree with Andrew that far too much energy has spent on dividing, rather
than uniting, with religion.  For many people (e.g. my parents) religion is
comforting, and for those people, I say that religion should stick around.
The problem comes when religions start to justify exclusionary policies such
as racism, homophobia etc. with scripture.  And certainly some religions have 
done this more than others.  I agree that Islam and Catholicism are probably 
two of the worst. I think that the elections last year (especially in regard
to the many anti-gay marriage laws passed) are a sign that times are changing.
While there still are many homophobic people around, those people realize that 
public opinion is starting to change, and that's why they acted now, before
they would be in the minority.	As far as the pope goes, this might be a
similar
attempt, but I think it might be too late for the church, and thus that
Andrew's
prediction of more people leaving the church very well may come true.  One
weird
thing about the catholic church is the amount of importance placed upon the 
pope.  He (no chance of she anytime soon) is treated almost like a God himself.

If God can guide you, why do you need a pope?

I am not sure if Andrew writing a letter to the editor would be helpful or 
not.  It seems from current debate in congress, that if you question 
someone's character, then the majority might just try to change the rules 
on you.  Or in this case, the majority might just not care.  The people on 
this list have included some very interesting articles about the pope, but 
unfortunately, I don't think many other people are reading those.

Rob

-- 
Robert Felty http://www-personal.umich.edu/~robfelty



On Thu, 28 Apr 2005, Andrew Reeves wrote:

> Of course it crossed my mind, too, that one could make a public issue of
> this and at least write a "Letter to to the Editor" to Newsweek. Thus
> far, I have not done that but my decision is not final. I would be
> interested in hearing more comments from the "improvetheworld" crowd
> especially Catholics. As for "derailing" the Pope--no chance of that; I
> don't even see how one could get to the point of questioning him on
> this. Anyhow, as you can remember from my former e-mail to this site it
> is my opinion that a bad pope is what the world presently needs.
> --Grandpa Andrew
>
> Martin Reeves wrote:
>>
>> It would be interesting to hear Ratzinger own memories of his time on the
>> South-east Wall.  I would construe any reluctance on his part to talk about
>> it or vague answers to questions with a lot of 'I don't recall' in his
>> answers to mean he was NOT an innocent bystander.  Even if he was an
>> innocent bystander, a truly righteous person should have extensively
>> reported on the abuses he witnessed!  Does that or any article say he did at
>> least that?	Is it possible that this story could escalate and 'derail' the
>> new Pope and the Catholic Church?
>>
>> Martin Reeves
>>
>> CBT Companies Inc.
>> Peoria and Moline, IL
>>
>> www.cbtcompanies.com
>>
>> Direct:	 (309) 495-1741
>> Toll Free:  (800) 747-6500
>> Cell:	  (309) 453-2007
>> Fax: 	 (309) 676-6068
>>
>> Email     mreeves Æ cbtmail.com
>>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>> From:   Andrew Reeves [mailto:andrew.reeves Æ wayne.edu]
>> Sent:   Wednesday, April 27, 2005 6:42 PM
>> To:	   improvetheworld Æ umich.edu
>> Subject:	   Pope Benendict XVI
>>
>> NEWSWEEK magazine, current issue, contains a story on the early life of
>> the new Pope and I quote from page 46 the following paragraph:
>>
>>     "During the war, Ratzinger's firsthand experience with the
>>	German military were a boy's grim chronicles of helplessness
>>	and defeat. He had entered seminary at the age of 12, but was
>>	compelled to join the local Hitler Youth in 1941, when he was
>>	14. At 17, he was building earthworks and tank traps alongside
>>	Jewish forced laborers near the Austro-Hungarian border."
>>
>> I was one of those Jewish forced laborers in the village of Fertorakos
>> from November 1944 until March 1945 (for details, see Chapter 5 of my
>> autobiography, section entitled "Slave Labor on the South-East Wall")
>> and I can assure you with absolute certainty that no Gentile persons of
>> any sort were "working alongside" us. The very idea would have appeared
>> preposterous; we were treated and housed worse than animals. There were
>> uniformed young kids among our SUPERVISORS, and I can tell you that
>> typically they were just as cruel, hateful, and meanspirited as their
>> elders--sometimes more so. Of course, there were some exceptions too,
>> and once I even got a cupful of extra food from one of them. In any
>> case, misrepresenting this experience as "working alongside" us is an
>> outrageous insult which is not what one would expect from the POPE!!!
>>
>> Danny's Grandpa Andrew
>
>
>