Recent Comments by Pope Francis

For full disclosure: this blog is written from a Protestant, Trinitarian, Evangelical, and biblically orthodox position.

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 Pope Francis has roiled the waters within the Catholic Church with statements which some consider to be at odds with the emphases of his two immediate predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

Francis has said that the church has become too focused on homosexuality, abortion, and issues of religious faith and doubt.  What I hope that Francis is trying to say is that the church cannot and should not be defined by what it is against.  That is a sure way for the church to wither and die.

Marisol Bello and Eric J. Lyman in a USA Today article on the issue say that Francis is reminding the world of the “Catholic Church as a place of healing and mercy, not judgment and finger-pointing.”  Others are concerned that Francis is de-emphasizing adherence to traditional doctrine in favor of being “relevant.”

In the interview, Francis adds: “we have to talk about them in a context. The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time."  Francis is not changing Catholic Church doctrine but appears to be trying to say that the church cannot be only “against,” it must also be “for.”

Read more about the controversy here:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/09/19/pope-francis-abortion-gays-interview/2837495/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/09/19/pope-francis-gays-abortion-contraception-column/2839493/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57603897/pope-francis-denounces-abortion-after-decrying-churchs-focus-on-rules/

(Pope Francis, in talking about these issues, is not speaking ex cathedra (“from the chair”). but as a spiritual leader.  Ex cathedra statements are considered by the Roman Catholic Church to be directly from God and are doctrinally binding on all Catholics. 

“…. I’d like to think there is a heaven.”

Billy Crystal (b. 1948) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and film director.  He has hosted the Academy Awards nine times and has appeared in numerous classic comedic films.  He recently released a memoir, "Still Foolin’ ‘Em: Where I’ve Been, Where I’m Going, and Where the Hell Are My keys?"

In a recent USA Today interview he mentions his love for his wife of forty-three years.  “… we laugh a lot. Janice has always made me laugh.  … I can’t bear to think of life without her.  I want to go first because I don’t want to miss her.  I’d like to think there is a heaven, and it will start from the happiest day in your life.  I’ll be 18, and Janice Goldfinger will walk by me in a bikini, and I will follow her, and it will start all over again.”

“….  I’d like to think there is a heaven.”  How sad it is that he does not know.

Boy Scouts to Allow Homosexual Members

The Boy Scouts of America on 23 May 2013 voted (by a 60% to 40% margin) to change the organization’s regulations to allow homosexual boys to participate and be full members. Homosexual adult leaders will still be banned.  Since the Boy Scouts are a private organization they were not required to make this change but they have been under increasingly intense public pressure for years to take this step.  A problem is that many of the sponsors of scout groups are churches.  Not all of them are delighted with this development.  The only official church responses so far are from the Mormons, who say the change will not affect their involvement, and the Catholics, who say that they need time to consider their response.

My thinking on the issue: the Boy Scouts are a private group and can do as they wish.  Individual parents and individual denominations, congregations, synagogues, and mosques should decide for themselves if they wish to continue their involvement.  Hopefully, the Boy Scouts will allow individual local groups to decide whether or not they will implement the new policy.  That would spare them the decision of whether or not now to withdraw from the Scouts altogether.  

The pressure on the Scouts and on religious groups has been subtle and not so subtle.  An example can be found in this article from the USA Today newspaper for Friday 24 May 2013 on page 12A (the editorial page).  The editorial calls the prior Boy Scout stance a “wrong-headed ban on gays,” Two paragraphs later, it says this:

“Much of the angst that has riven the Scouts for the past year can be attributed to Scouting's close affiliation with churches, some with strong tenets against homosexuality. Fully 70% of troops are religiously sponsored.”

The logical implication is that the newspaper’s editorial staff is insulting the churches by calling them “wrong-headed.”

Coming Back

In an article in the 6-8 April 2012 edition of USA Today entitled "Religious 'Reverts' Coming Back to Faith," Cathy Lynn Grosssman quotes  a man named Bruce Boling who quit attending church as soon as he left home.  "Once I grew up and didn't have to go anymore, I just quit."

After he married and had children, he thought church might be good for his relationship with his children.

"I thought if I went back, it would make me a better father.  What I found was it made me a better me."

Mitt Romney

This is not, never has been and never will be a political blog.  You will never know how I intend to vote in the upcoming national elections.  Sometimes, though, my posts may touch tangentially on politics as I discuss something else.  This post, for example, will be about the American politician Mitt Romney.
 
For those readers in other countries, as I write this on Tuesday night, the political caucuses in the State of Iowa are choosing the presidential candidates they favor for the nominations as representatives of the Republican and Democratic parties in the upcoming (2012) United States presidential election.   One of the Republican candidates is Mitt Romney, a Mormon.  The caucuses are politically important because they are the first test of the strengths of the various candidates with the voters.  There are still 49 other states and several territories which must also express their choices.

The nationally distributed newspaper, USA Today, had an article recently entitled"Christians are tough crowd for Romney." (The online title is "Mormon Romney struggles to win over Evangelical Christians.") Many Evangelicals are wary of voting for a Mormon because they do not consider Mormons to be Christians.

Actually, by law, there is no religious test for eligibility for the office of President of the United States of America.  The office could be held by a Hindu, or a Buddhist, or even an atheist, but it is understandable that voters would be most comfortable with a leader with whom they feel they share certain basic values and beliefs.

Mormons are known for their strong family values, strong work ethic, conservative social values, and non-orthodox religious doctrines.  They are led by a Prophet who speaks authoritatively for God.  They do not believe that revelation from God was completed within the Bible and have added additional scriptures.

Tomorrow, I will detail some of the reasons most Christian denominations do not feel that Mormons are Christian.

Addendum on 4 January 2011:
Last night in Iowa, Mitt Romney won the endorsement of Iowa Republicans as their choice for the position of candidate to represent the Republican Party in the 2012 United States Presidential election.  Mr. Romney edged out Rick Santorum, a Roman Catholic, by a margin of only 8 votes out of almost 125,000 votes cast.  The candidates now move to the state of New Hampshire.

The Democrats, as expected, gave their endorsement to the incumbent candidate, United States President   Barack Obama.