I'll try to make my post as well thought out as possible but before I begin I have one quick statement to make.
Nice video. I'm waiting for holt24 to show his face here.
Holt isn't Catholic, nor is this a place for atheists to rant or an area for liberals to rule it is a place of debate. If you don't understand this then go to a site that is specifically tailored to your beliefs so you don't have to think. If that wasn't your intention and you simply don't like holt than I apologize but still there's no reason to slander the opposition.
Also I'll do my best to quote Mr. Fry word for word but if it doesn't happen I'm sorry.
I do not believe, to put it lightly, that the Catholic church is a force of good in the world; however, I have no contempt for the pious, devout individual
And here lies an extremely key point, the Catholic church as an organization is not a force for good in the world. As a body of people Mr. Fry has thus far said nothing positive or negative which I respect. I know many Catholic individuals who are a force for good but I've never been a fan of the dominating structure of Catholicism.
It would be wrong of me to express any antagonism towards any individual who wishes to find salvation in any form they wish to express it
Good man, if you're going to agree with everything he is saying I would hope to expect much less violent and haughty remarks in some debates.
There's nothing the Catholic church likes to do more than attack the Enlightenment
Here is where I come to my first slight discrepancy. While I do believe the Catholic church has been a major obstacle in objective science and reasoning in the past I'm not sure that the modern day church reflects this as much. It's been said by many high officials that evolution is compatible with Catholicism and the pursuit of science is no longer blacklisted. As he quickly pointed out though history is very important, I'm interested to see what he does with this point.
Limbo
I didn't figure much of a quote was needed for this section so it will be left at that. As he pointed out purgatory and limbo aren't biblical, at all, you can't draw any conclusions that they exist nor can you surmise the ideas from any biblical text. Furthermore how easily they can be used to take advantage of the living and the dead is despicable and anti-biblical. They were used to gain money and power for the Catholic church. but do they do anything positive? One could say that they bring more hope to those still alive which is, after all, the main function of religion but isn't that feeding a lie? And not only feeding a lie but taking advantage of people's fears? No argument comes to mind in favor of the creation of purgatory or limbo by the Catholic church.
This is in the past and it is irrelevant except for one point, this church is built on the foundation of intercession
Ah, he brought it back around. First I'd like to give a subtle hear, hear for his attack on the methods the Catholic church uses as it isn't necessarily biblical that a man is needed to send you to have, none the less a Catholic ordained priest. Restricts the pool of people who could go to heaven doesn't it. Also along those same lines I'd like to point out that this is the point of the Holy Spirit, to act as an intercession between man and God and the return of the Christ. Playing God?
Outside the church there is no salvation
As he said this is a major argument against any religion, if that statement is made it excludes billions upon billions of people from being in heaven or going to heaven. It also increases dependency on whatever that religion may be.
Burned for reading the bible in English
Because if the masses can read the word of God they might find out we're lying.
Thomas Moore
That's an interesting fact I wont forget, a man who killed Christians for reading the bible in English is not only a Saint but the Patron Saint of politicians. Oh, here comes history again, so not only does it create a foundation for the church it still has clear and present modern day ramifications. Whoever made the argument that the past doesn't matter isn't looking to intelligent now.
It is the only owner of the truth for the billions it likes to boast about, who are poor and ignorant which it all likes to boast about
Again this has to come from the fear that if they were aloud to read the bible they would realize how fundamentally wrong Catholicism is. Not only on a logically level but a theological level, being wrong inherently is dangerous to reputation.
Against womens freedom with their own bodies and destines
Well, I disagree on this point; not that the Catholic church is pro-choice but I simply can't see eye-to-eye with him on this but to avoid this becoming any sort of abortion debate I'll keep listening.
Ordering them under pain of excommunication not to talk to the police or anyone else
Unfortunatly this reflects how the church is still above some laws in some countries. It also reflects a dying empire as it's resorted to self preservation instead of growth.
The best remedy for fighting child abuse is not letting homosexuals into the church
There you have it folks, the answer to everything.
Who's only purpose was to achieve love
And herein lies the similarity between heterosexuals and homosexuals. If anyone can tell me how the pursuit of love is impure maybe I'll again support the ban on homosexual marriage, if not than I'll continue with my train of though.
You're a morally evil individual
It's amazing how the Catholic church has an Orwellian view of the external world but apparently ignores it's own internals. Nothing hurts more than to be called evil and after you are why not fulfill that stereotype? It creates many more problems to call something evil than it solves.
I like to think that I can come back in ten years and argue the opposite
I would love that, if the church could recreate itself to be a force for good in the world in the eye's of Mr. Fry; in my eyes as well. At this point though I do want to point out that I haven't heard any arguments against Christianity itself the individual believer or even the individual church which raises a question are they a force for good in the world. From my personal experiences I have to say yes but unfortunatly my experiences aren't necessarily objective and they might not represent the religion as a whole, that does not mean that the don't however.
He spread the lie that condoms actually increase the transmission of AIDs
As was pointed out why not just be honest and tell them that it was against the Catholic religion? If you are assured in your faith wouldn't you? Is the church so weak in it's own faith that it has to resort to completely worldly means?
This church is obsessed with sex, absolutely obsessed
"We like it, it's fun, it's jolly." That it is sir. The food analogy was fantastic to say the least, being obsessed with food doesn't mean you eat a healthy amount it either means you eat way to little or way to much. You have sex way to often, or never.
Do you know who would be the last person ever accepted as a prince of the Church? That Galilean carpenter.
I shivered, the point is not only heretical but absolutely correct. If you want to why compare everything said or done by Jesus and then compare what is said and done by the Catholic church. I would bet that in the vast majority of cases the two wouldn't mesh.
They could concentrate of the apparent essence of their belief.
If serving the poor isn't the essence of Christianity then I don't know what is; I completely agree.
In conclusion this was a brilliant video with some fantastic points but I would like to once again point out that he didn't speak out against the religion itself but the organization.
I suppose this is more of a review of the video but it reflects my opinions on this video the best I can.
