Catholic bishop frowns on Halloween commercialization

[raski]

^^ Sometimes when people are criticizing "the Church" they are not really criticizing religion but the way an institution is run or the way certain members of the institution, who should know better, conduct themselves. Even Jose Rizal had a thing or two to say about the Catholic priests at that time and had nothing good to say about the Padre Damasos drunk with power and wanton in their abuses.

[pinoyapache]

I agree with the Bishop. Haloween is an occult practice.

For those of us who are renewed Catholics - halloween is a pagan rite and is a subtle occult thing.

[tmhiong]

I agree with the Bishop. Haloween is an occult practice.

even praising/worshiping graven images is an occult practice..hmmmmm

[raski]

For those of us who are renewed Catholics - halloween is a pagan rite and is a subtle occult thing.

Joke lang ha, but I consider your avatar a subtle occult thing

[pinoyapache]

Joke lang ha, but I consider your avatar a subtle occult thing

read my username

[raski]

read my username

Apaches were animists and/or cannibals were they not? The church would probably have labeled them heathens and burned them at the stake..

[SPRINGFIELD_XD_40]

@ RASKI ... RELIGION is a RECESSION PROOF BUSINESS . Not the church . These 2 are very different entities . Cite a religion na na BANKRUPT and went out of business . Ayaw na KULTO ha , RELIGION .

@ GIKAPOY ... I am talking about here in the forums . The self proclaimed atheist here , those people who brews hatred and the 1 sided bias outlooks they unleash .

If you guys havent got over yet about the Spanish rule of the friars and the medieval inquisition to include , its time to get over with it because the issues right now is not about it but the individual actions generalized . But take note that just because individual siya doesnt mean also na ni cross siya sa opinions ninyo , they are wrong . Pwede pod kamo ang wrong and this time sila ang right .

[raski]

@ RASKI ... RELIGION is a RECESSION PROOF BUSINESS . Not the church . These 2 are very different entities . Cite a religion na na BANKRUPT and went out of business . Ayaw na KULTO ha , RELIGION .

One man's cult is another man's religion. The term 'cult' is really very arbitrary. Originally, when Christianity was founded, it was considered a 'cult' by the Roman Empire, and Christians, who were very few at that time compared to the pagans, were hunted down and executed. It was only when Christianity managed to convert an emperor, when it became considered an "establishment" religion. Hence, what you are asking for, cult vs religion they are throughout history practically the same, it's just a numbers game. For example, Scientology.. cult or religion? In the U.S. and Britain it is a recognized religion, in France it is considered a cult and was stripped of tax exempt status.

But speaking of religion that went bankrupt, look up Zoroastrianism. It was the establishment religion in Persia before the Ottomans attacked and converted all the followers. As a matter of fact, religions do go bankrupt once either of the two conditions are met 1) lack of followers and 2) followers becoming undevout. The second is happening with startling frequency in Europe, in France alone which was once the bastion of Catholicism, Church attendance is so low, Catholic leaders have been forced to sell or rent out church space to muslims to keep maintenance of the buildings. You try to separate churches going bankrupt from a religion going bankrupt but they are in fact closely related. Churches do not go bankrupt unless attendance drops, and religions do not die unless for the same reasons. Churches becoming mosques or simply being abandoned is a barometer of what is happening to a religion in a certain area.

@ GIKAPOY ... I am talking about here in the forums . The self proclaimed atheist here , those people who brews hatred and the 1 sided bias outlooks they unleash .

When it comes to religion everyone is one-sided and biased, but the term atheist has a very specific meaning and that is a person who does not believe in God. If someone is attacking a certain practice or individual or group of individuals in the Catholic church, they are not necessarily atheist - they could be Catholics too, or protestants, or agnostic, or any other kind of religion, fact of the matter, not atheists unless they have said specifically that they do not believe in God.

If you guys havent got over yet about the Spanish rule of the friars and the medieval inquisition to include , its time to get over with it because the issues right now is not about it but the individual actions generalized . But take note that just because individual siya doesnt mean also na ni cross siya sa opinions ninyo , they are wrong . Pwede pod kamo ang wrong and this time sila ang right .

Abuses by individuals within religions occurred then, and it also occurs now and that is why people will always have the right to criticize. Of course it's possible we're wrong, but it's also possible they (the priests) are wrong in this instance, that's the whole point about debating it, and so it's up to the individuals reading the thread to make up their mind. If they decide that the church is right in all this, then more power to them.

On a tangential note, I do agree also somewhat with what the priest is saying, that there are people who forget what the true meaning of the holidays are and see it merely as an opportunity to get time off work and nothing else. But I also think that if speaking strictly of commercialism, in and of itself, it is not evil and that the church engages in commercialism too in its own form... there's nothing stopping people from enjoying both the commercial and the spiritual side of a holiday, the two are not mutually exclusive in my mind and maybe the "fear' the priest expressed that commercialism will "trivialize" evil is just scaremongering and not bound to be true. After all, I've yet to see children who practice trick or treating become satanists or devil-worshippers...

[pinoyapache]

Apaches were animists and/or cannibals were they not? The church would probably have labeled them heathens and burned them at the stake..

They certainly were animists as Filipinos were before the Spaniards came. But that was long ago and many of them are embracing Roman Catholicism and adopted Spanish family names. Unfortunately, human meat are not part of their diet. Apaches do not get burned at the stake. It is the other way around. They do the burning...

[raski]

They certainly were animists as Filipinos were before the Spaniards came. But that was long ago and many of them are embracing Roman Catholicism and adopted Spanish family names. Unfortunately, human meat are not part of their diet. Apaches do not get burned at the stake. It is the other way around. They do the burning...

Ah I stand corrected. So if the Spaniards did not come, we would be the largest animist kingdom in the world or would we have become Muslim like the Indonesians and Malaysians?