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user-inactivated  ·  2468 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: More Religious Leaders Challenge Silence, Isolation Surrounding Suicide

    I would ask you to please stop minimizing what is being preached.

I'm not minimizing what's being preached, I'm taking a more even tone, because I understand that both the issues of suicide and religion are touchy by themselves, but doubly so when combined.

    Pope Francis is a swell guy for a catholic, but he still preaches against birth control, keeping millions of people in poverty.

Pope Francis has his failings. The Catholic Church, as an institution, has its failings. That does not negate the beneficial aspects of Pope Francis' attitudes nor the beneficial aspects of the Catholic Church as an institution. Our government has its failings. Our economic system has its failings. Our individual cultures have their failings. We as individuals have our failings. These failings do not negate the good things we do nor do they imply that we are incapable of doing good.

Additionally, when we have trouble with the institutions we're a part of, we have multiple options that range from acceptance to abandonment. From attempting to change them to attempting to change ourselves. Someone can choose to not be Catholic. Someone can choose to try to change the Catholic church. They're going to find resistance and obstacles no matter their choice or how they go about it. This is true for every last thing I listed, including what we choose to do about ourselves.

I very much understand and accept and appreciate your hesitance towards religion. I have zero problems with that and you're more than welcome to discuss religion with me whenever you want, whether it's religion in general or my personal views. That said, because of my personal perspective of religion and my respect for people to choose and embrace their own beliefs, words of condemnation in regards to religion or religious attitudes will be few and far from me. It's not about rose colored glasses. It's about respecting that it's an issue that many people feel very strongly about, for better or worse.