Quote:
Originally posted by Rudey
1. The catholic church's pope is expressing his belief. This is the belief of a figurehead and not all Catholics/priests/other units in the church. Similarly, to say Spain is pro-war would be twisting things a bit.
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I'm not real sure that Catholics (which I am not one of) would agree that the Pope is a fugurehead. Last I heard, he does still set church doctrine and is it's final authority. He's not a basically powerless monarch. In fact, he doesn't really have to answer to the Cardinals, Bishops, Priests or anyone else for that matter. He answers to God.
And, to follow your logic, haven't you just created a circular argument for yourself?
To wit:
The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church and is anti-war, but it's OK for Catholics not to be, and potentially to participate in pro-war rallys.
The President is the head of the United States and is pro-war, but it's not OK for Americans not to be, and participate in anti-war rallys?
By the way, the United States is a democracy -- the Catholic Church isn't.
The "church" (meaning religion globally in the US) has a long history of protest. In fact, I am an ordained Elder in the Presbyterian Church, USA, which is a Protestant denomination. The root word for Protestant is protest. During the struggle for Civil Rights and the Vietnam Anti-War movement, many memebers of the clergy were outspoken in their protests, organized and led marches and participated in many other ways. And many went to jail for their (peaceful) civil disobedience.
You do bring up an interesting point, though. I don't know whether Catholic Chaplains become Priests and are assigned to the military, or if they join the Army/Navy/Marines/AF, etc. My suspicion is that they are ordained first, and the military part follows. If they are ordained first, I think your third point is invalid.