You’re repeating well known Protestant propaganda to someone who’s actually read portions of Galileo’s book because it was in the library at my Catholic high school. Not to mention that the Gregorian calendar, the one you use today, was commissioned and made by the Catholic Church and Gregorian monks in that church. It was made when Galileo was 20 based on the observations of the sun and stars and was so accurate that they knew that you had to skip a leap year every 100 years and not skip a leap year every 400 years.
The problem with Heliocentric models was that they had no idea how to account for the elliptical movement caused by the black hole at the center of the galaxy in their mathematical equation. Galileo, who was not jailed for a heliocentric model and was funded by the church for his research, used an equation that assumed the planets moved in perfect circles which didn’t make any sense.
The church throughout most of its history has aired on the side of not incarcerating people for heresy, but if I said that you believe the earth is flat, then you could arguably sue me for defamation. In that sense, heresy is still illegal in almost every developed country; yet today the church at most, excommunicates people after attempting to reconcile with them.
There really isn’t an asymmetry either. Your country is one of the biggest foreign lobbies in the US. It also exports a ton of media which can be considered influential. It’s not that people shouldn’t care for unity, it’s that people want you to exclude all other virtues to unify with what they believe. Unity is a good, but it can’t be held to the exclusion of all other goods, and there will always be forces that want to influence the Japanese people just as the Japanese people attempt to influence others. Culture will change to some degree, and it’s worth considering whether that change is good or not.
I’d also note that you started this conversation with telling me how I should think and the superiority of your thought. When I asked for specifics you blew me off.
Muslims believe in Apostasy killings. They don't believe in assimilation. They believe that they can lie to "infidels" and call it Taqiyya. They are at war with everyone around them. They are the top persecutors of Christianity, the most persecuted religion in the world.
Meanwhile, Catholics believe in assimilation short of giving up your religious beliefs. Ruth, an immigrant who was part of the line of David (Jesus's family tree), was an example of assimilation. St Thomas Aquinas also talks about the need for assimilation and claims that it takes three generations, so there is a healthy respect for assimilation. You can't just put on a gee and brandish a katana then act like you're more Japanese than a guy with Japanese parents. We're also asked to respect civil authorities. Give on to Ceasar what is Ceasar's and give on to God what is God's. The Church has also encouraged different cultural groups within it to keep their traditions. This is why we have things like the Easter Rite and the Wester Rite. We also believe in subsidiarity and the Ordo Amoris, Latin for the order of loves, which is the idea that those closest to you come first.
So no, we aren't like Muslims, and I'm aware that most people see all religions and peoples as the same blob including places like Japan. That's why many countries have let in third worlders and Muslims the latter of which should be banned entirely for believing in pedophilia, incest, Apostasy killings, wanting to impose Sharia law, slavery, abolishing adoption, ect. You kicked people out of ignorance multiple times and took on a smug air of superiority. Then you got mad that people with their well formed prejudice took note that you aren't Japanese, haven't assimilated, and don't know what you're talking about; yet nitpick at someone because you're so old that you have been in Japan for longer than he's been alive.
Galileo was wrong to start because he said that the planets moved in a circle as opposed to an elliptical movement, so none of his math worked out. When he was told this, he made a big fuss out of it. He was a narcissist, and he began spreading heresy apart from his faulty scientific findings. The church begged him to stop and eventually when asked to write out his thoughts, he did so in a book where he insulted everyone for being stupid including the Pope. He was put on house arrest at his lavish villa after that. Not tortured.
The Church also never stopped anyone from reading the Bible, people were just illiterate and books were more expensive than a house because they were made from leather and had to be hand written, so people would lock them up like you'd lock up gold bars. Most people who were literate also learned how to read Latin, so it took a while before native translations made sense, but many of the first translations where done by the Church and other catholics.
The Church also believes in much more than a ritual and works both of which are important. The Church also replaces the old priesthood that had disappeared and was taken over by the Pharisees. It was established when Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom and the ability to loose and bind (not a doctrinal thing) after he had received a revelation from God the Father that Jesus was his son (a doctrinal thing).
It's also important to understand that all of God's creations have a purpose, and when we misuse those creations that is when we sin. That is why sin means to miss the mark. The more we understand those purposes, the more we understand God and the more free we become.
Many rules don't encompass the entirety of the purpose of God's creation. That is partially a limit of human language but also the nature of prudence. This doesn't mean that we can't understand why murder is bad, but it does mean that if a criminal is brought before a judge, it may be more or less prudent to sentence them to 10 or 20 years for their crime depending on the circumstances; or a judge may look the other way on a parking fee because of extenuating circumstances.
As to the question of truth, it's not that other religions are wrong about everything, in fact in order to survive in this day and age they'd have to be right about a great many things, but Catholicism in any interpretation is a religion that is exclusive by it's very core and nature. It is about loving God, worshiping only God, and following his word. You claim that we don't study other religions, but I've met many priest who have studied many religions including Buddhism. I've read the Quran because of it's political relevance, and I'm currently learning about Hinduism because my wife is from Nepal (she's Catholic). Both of which have only buttressed my beliefs in Catholicism. It takes me a while to get through them because I spend more time learning about the Church for obvious reasons, but I do have an interest in foreign religions.
If Catholicism is true, then all other religions are false. This means that the idea that Catholicism and Buddhism are both true can't be true.
I think we can agree that good should be pursued and evil avoided. I also think we can agree that truth is a good to be pursued. In that sense, I think that talking about what you find doesn't make sense about the Church or what you specifically prefer about buddhism is a lot more interesting of a conversation than claiming sameness. I don't know much about Buddhism, so I don't have much to say about it, but I'd be interested to hear what you have to say.
Read what you’ve been writing. You’ve poked and prodded at him for days now by constantly tell him he’s not Japanese enough and incessantly compared his faith to that of Muslims. These are all just thinly veiled cheap shots. Saying “I live in Japan” is not an excuse to prod communities on a global social media network and attempt to strip someone of their heritage.
@heisei_ramen CNN called an ISIS leader and austere religious scholar. Also, this is liberal media. They hate America because we refuse to be part of the global blob.
@bunburyoudoujp@HaruhiAisaka The most formative aspect of your life is your parents and what they teach you. Being an old man doesn’t give you license to harass someone like you are now.
@VinciRSS@SebAaltonen Maybe one day, but right now it’s just buying hardware that’ll be generations behind instead of going for subsidized tokens on the newest hardware available.
Catholics aren’t known for preaching like that on the street corners. That isn’t the type of interfaith dialogue we’re interested in, and I’m not interested in defending other denominations. I am also constantly on a quest of discovering the fullness of truth.
Sitting on a corner screaming Jesus is your savior is a statement of truth, but why would anyone believe it? It’s rude and obnoxious and reflects poorly on the person doing it and the people who follow Christ.
I celebrate every soul that comes to Christ, but I recognize that there is a time and place for everything and there should be a healthy respect for public places.
As it relates to church dogma, dogma isn’t a set of rules but an observation of the good which is to be pursued. That being said, Catholics tend to be much more prudent than other denominations which is why I have found that the emphasis on dogma as it relates to non-Catholics tends to come from explaining the truth as opposed to scrupulously trying to imposing it on others. This is because we believe that you need faith and reason and screaming Christ died for your sins without explanation does not inspire reason.
Once someone has converted, there is a higher expectation for them to follow doctrine, but that’s because reason dictates that if you believe in an all powerful being expects certain things from you, he’s probably right in disagreements and the adherents is probably wrong. But even then people can misinterpret or misunderstand doctrine, so Catholics often try not to speak on things they don’t fully understand.
The much maligned Spanish Inquisition was actually a way of saving people from scrupulous kings who often wanted to execute people for heresy. The kings even complained about how soft the church was in its enforcement of doctrine.
In my experience, it’s been other Christian sects that have been more imposing on dogma, and it often relates with their disagreements with the church, but that’s another discussion entirely.
Should I not seek out truth and when asked about it should I lie about it? This difference between Catholics and Muslims is that I’m not going to bring marriage with a six year old to Japan or kill someone for apostasy because I don’t believe in such atrocities. I believe you when you say the Japanese see Muslims and Catholics as the same because if the Japanese knew more about them they’d rightfully ban them entirely.
@bunburyoudoujp@HaruhiAisaka If everyone stole, then would there even be a market for people to buy goods?
Good creates, and we should always aim for more good. It does not obliterate a cultures, it creates them. If the Europeans had never become Catholic, we’d still be barbarians with rocks and tents.
I’m not shoving anything down anyone’s throat, but I’m also not going to lie to you about the truths of the world. Meanwhile Islam spreads by the sword and adheres to beliefs that both you and me would rightly find absolutely unacceptable.
Catholicism and Islam are not comparable nor should any comparison be accepted in an argument against a Catholic.
@HaruhiAisaka@bunburyoudoujp Only good can create. In that sense, Catholicism can only make Japan more Japanese. Not to mention it has promoted the continuation of different rights within the church for centuries as long as they adhere to proper doctrine.
@bunburyoudoujp@HaruhiAisaka Islam is no different than Christianity?
It’s really easy to think you’re smart or considerate when you speak in ways so general that you can draw a comparison between those two.