I think you're out of line here. Catholicism is about a belief and about living to a standard, not stepping in line with how society expects.
So, you're of the hipster branch of Catholicism? You're Catholic, but only ironically?
Like, seriously, it's not me who says you can't be Catholic and pro-choice; it's the fucking Catholic Church. Don't believe me? Read on.
You're assuming I care what the Church thinks.
if you don't care what the Church thinks, why do you call yourself a Catholic, and what makes a person a Catholic (if not agreeing with the Church)?
Elldren said it's the sacraments, but if you don't agree with the Catholic church, then you don't agree with their dogma on the sacraments, so what is the defining characteristic?
Except we're talking about membership in (essentially) a community or organization, so using the actual membership rules of that community or organization makes a whole lot more sense than using the rules some random dude on the internet makes up in order to tell someone else how stupid they are.
"The rules some random dude on the internet makes up" is a funny way to phrase "Actually believing in the stuff your religion deems important."
I think there is a set of ideas that makes one Catholic. Disagreeing with the Church on policies has always been a mixed bag but unless the Pope excommunicates you does not stop you from being Catholic.
Also, I forgot who was talking about e-books. I am on my second kindle. I love it. Its great.
I have a Nook, but if I had to do it again, I would probably get a Kindle.
Seems to be fairing better market wise.
Amazon KO'ed Borders and I think B&N is in some danger as well, even though they did realize that e-readers are a big deal.
Also, a couple of blockbusters are closing down around here and their closing banners read, "Store closing. This location only!" Kind of re-arranging deck chairs on the titanic their, blockbuster. and pretty wishful thinking. They were retarded and sluggish in their reaction to Netflix.
I'm rather enjoying physical retailers get screwed by the changing marketplace, because it fucking serves them right for deliberately making life inconvenient for me.
A lot of retailers in Australia are losing sales big time to anyone with some type of online shopping facilities.
In other news, I have spent way too much money over the past couple of days, but I couldn't resist.
Picked up Halo: ODST on sale from Gamefly for $13 on Wednesday. Then, on Thursday, Fallout 3: GOTY (which comes with all of the DLC) and God of War III were on sale at Gamestop for $20 each (even though I don't own a PS3). Then, yesterday, NewEgg put a great CoolerMaster case on sale for $70; hopefully, that will get me started on buying more components for my computer-to-be that I'm going to piecemeal together over a few months.
if you had said only "yes," i would have understood your stance. but if you're an atheist, why would you continue to believe in the power of those sacraments to define a person? it seems to me that believing the B/E/C renders you ineffably Catholic requires a belief in some supernatural power that marks a person through ritual.
if a Catholic who believes the sacraments have supernatural power says that anyone who is baptized etc. is a catholic forever, that seems consistent to me. otherwise i'm not sure what the basis of the definition is.
Why does there need to be a supernatural element? The cultural/social elements seem strong enough on the face of it.
This is an interesting question, and I think the crux of the definitional issue.
To put it simply, I think saying "I'm catholic" automatically suggests belief in god, specifically belief in christ and christian theology, and that you attend a catholic church and receive communion and all that stuff. it doesn't mean you MUST believe all of it to be a catholic, but the word and concept are generally used to describe one's stance on matters moral, spiritual and political.
Saying "I'm a Catholic" and meaning "I'm an atheist but according to the Church I don't believe or follow, I am still technically a Catholic" seems disingenuous or at least tremendously unhelpful. it doesn't really convey useful information, in terms of classifying the person's religious beliefs or lack thereof. it simply answers a binary of B/E/C or not-B/E/C that offers no information about their beliefs or stances on social issues.
have you ever had to move? physical books greatly lose their charm when you've moved 3 times in 4 years and they compose 80% by weight of your possessions.
I mean, I really love them. I love reading, looking at them, keeping them in great shape, etc. I kind of have a collector's mentality. But I'm ready to move on for practical reasons. The amount of space they consume is ridiculous, and as I mentioned previously, they're a bitch to move.
I definitely, once I have the werewithal, am planning to ditch all of my library that can be gotten on ereader except for the really important physical objects like the hardcover first editions and the signed copies and so forth.
When I moved to Seattle, I got rid of all but a couple of my books.
Best idea I ever had. Seriously, it's so awesome not having all that crap; you won't read 95% of them ever again, so they're just taking up way too much room. Get rid of all the books you can.
Hell. Why not burn them?
Because the public library got a lot more use out of them?
Thanatos on
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ElldrenIs a woman dammitceterum censeoRegistered Userregular
I think you're out of line here. Catholicism is about a belief and about living to a standard, not stepping in line with how society expects.
So, you're of the hipster branch of Catholicism? You're Catholic, but only ironically?
Like, seriously, it's not me who says you can't be Catholic and pro-choice; it's the fucking Catholic Church. Don't believe me? Read on.
You're assuming I care what the Church thinks.
if you don't care what the Church thinks, why do you call yourself a Catholic, and what makes a person a Catholic (if not agreeing with the Church)?
Elldren said it's the sacraments, but if you don't agree with the Catholic church, then you don't agree with their dogma on the sacraments, so what is the defining characteristic?
Except we're talking about membership in (essentially) a community or organization, so using the actual membership rules of that community or organization makes a whole lot more sense than using the rules some random dude on the internet makes up in order to tell someone else how stupid they are.
"The rules some random dude on the internet makes up" is a funny way to phrase "Actually believing in the stuff your religion deems important."
But those are rules you made up, not the rules set out by the organization itself
I have a Nook, but if I had to do it again, I would probably get a Kindle.
Seems to be fairing better market wise.
Amazon KO'ed Borders and I think B&N is in some danger as well, even though they did realize that e-readers are a big deal.
Also, a couple of blockbusters are closing down around here and their closing banners read, "Store closing. This location only!" Kind of re-arranging deck chairs on the titanic their, blockbuster. and pretty wishful thinking. They were retarded and sluggish in their reaction to Netflix.
It hasn't even occurred to me in some time that Blockbuster is something that still exists. Poor guys.
Quid on
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Irond WillWARNING: NO HURTFUL COMMENTS, PLEASE!!!!!Cambridge. MAModeratormod
i used to really go after people for their religious beliefs when i was young. i'd get really self-righteous about their stupid and harmful beliefs etc.
i don't really do that anymore. i guess i don't really see it as productive. i don't think that my adopting that tone has ever changed anyone's mind. mostly, it just makes the person in question think that i'm a confrontational asshole and maybe that all atheists are assholes.
in spite of being considered something of a jerk at times (shocking, I know), i've never been confrontational on stuff like that. nothings gained from it and it's needlessly antagonistic.
i think i pretty much stopped when i moved out of texas. i guess i just wanted to be an asshole to texans
have you ever had to move? physical books greatly lose their charm when you've moved 3 times in 4 years and they compose 80% by weight of your possessions.
I mean, I really love them. I love reading, looking at them, keeping them in great shape, etc. I kind of have a collector's mentality. But I'm ready to move on for practical reasons. The amount of space they consume is ridiculous, and as I mentioned previously, they're a bitch to move.
I definitely, once I have the werewithal, am planning to ditch all of my library that can be gotten on ereader except for the really important physical objects like the hardcover first editions and the signed copies and so forth.
When I moved to Seattle, I got rid of all but a couple of my books.
Best idea I ever had. Seriously, it's so awesome not having all that crap; you won't read 95% of them ever again, so they're just taking up way too much room. Get rid of all the books you can.
Hell. Why not burn them?
Because the public library got a lot more use out of them?
I consider myself catholic in the most technical sense
if you "don't care what the church thinks" you are a still a catholic
you are just a bad catholic
And to answer your question EM: in the same sense that identifying someone as Jewish does not necessarily answer any questions about their religious beliefs. It is a community that has a religion, that is defined by a religion, but does not require actual belief in the religion to be considered a member.
I have a Nook, but if I had to do it again, I would probably get a Kindle.
Seems to be fairing better market wise.
Amazon KO'ed Borders and I think B&N is in some danger as well, even though they did realize that e-readers are a big deal.
Also, a couple of blockbusters are closing down around here and their closing banners read, "Store closing. This location only!" Kind of re-arranging deck chairs on the titanic their, blockbuster. and pretty wishful thinking. They were retarded and sluggish in their reaction to Netflix.
It hasn't even occurred to me in some time that Blockbuster is something that still exists. Poor guys.
Between On Demand, Red Box, and Net Flix, who really goes there to rent movies anymore?
I go there every few months to buy some used DVDs at their 3 for $20 or whatever prices though.
So we get stiff once in a while. So we have a little fun. What’s wrong with that? This is a free country, isn’t it? I can take my panda any place I want to. And if I wanna buy it a drink, that’s my business.
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CindersWhose sails were black when it was windyRegistered Userregular
i used to really go after people for their religious beliefs when i was young. i'd get really self-righteous about their stupid and harmful beliefs etc.
i don't really do that anymore. i guess i don't really see it as productive. i don't think that my adopting that tone has ever changed anyone's mind. mostly, it just makes the person in question think that i'm a confrontational asshole and maybe that all atheists are assholes.
in spite of being considered something of a jerk at times (shocking, I know), i've never been confrontational on stuff like that. nothings gained from it and it's needlessly antagonistic.
i think i pretty much stopped when i moved out of texas. i guess i just wanted to be an asshole to texans
In other news, I have spent way too much money over the past couple of days, but I couldn't resist.
Picked up Halo: ODST on sale from Gamefly for $13 on Wednesday. Then, on Thursday, Fallout 3: GOTY (which comes with all of the DLC) and God of War III were on sale at Gamestop for $20 each (even though I don't own a PS3). Then, yesterday, NewEgg put a great CoolerMaster case on sale for $70; hopefully, that will get me started on buying more components for my computer-to-be that I'm going to piecemeal together over a few months.
thanatos, what you consider a splurge seems to be what other people would consider picking over a junkyard.
So we get stiff once in a while. So we have a little fun. What’s wrong with that? This is a free country, isn’t it? I can take my panda any place I want to. And if I wanna buy it a drink, that’s my business.
I think you're out of line here. Catholicism is about a belief and about living to a standard, not stepping in line with how society expects.
So, you're of the hipster branch of Catholicism? You're Catholic, but only ironically?
Like, seriously, it's not me who says you can't be Catholic and pro-choice; it's the fucking Catholic Church. Don't believe me? Read on.
You're assuming I care what the Church thinks.
if you don't care what the Church thinks, why do you call yourself a Catholic, and what makes a person a Catholic (if not agreeing with the Church)?
Elldren said it's the sacraments, but if you don't agree with the Catholic church, then you don't agree with their dogma on the sacraments, so what is the defining characteristic?
Except we're talking about membership in (essentially) a community or organization, so using the actual membership rules of that community or organization makes a whole lot more sense than using the rules some random dude on the internet makes up in order to tell someone else how stupid they are.
but the whole point is that the person doesn't believe in or follow the institution. anyone can create rules to define people as part of a group, but if you don't ascribe any authority to the person creating those rules, why would you respect their definition?
and really, we're not talking about membership in a community. when someone asks whether you're a Catholic, they're not asking "have you received the three specific sacraments that make you ineffably Catholic according to the rules of that institution?" They're asking "do you have a set of theological and political beliefs/values that generally match those held by the institution in question?"
if you don't care what the Church thinks, why do you call yourself a Catholic, and what makes a person a Catholic (if not agreeing with the Church)?
Elldren said it's the sacraments, but if you don't agree with the Catholic church, then you don't agree with their dogma on the sacraments, so what is the defining characteristic?
Except we're talking about membership in (essentially) a community or organization, so using the actual membership rules of that community or organization makes a whole lot more sense than using the rules some random dude on the internet makes up in order to tell someone else how stupid they are.
"The rules some random dude on the internet makes up" is a funny way to phrase "Actually believing in the stuff your religion deems important."
No, the "rules some random dude on the internet makes up" include such gems like "you can't say you're pro-choice and call yourself Catholic".
Because that's not what the actual theological stance of the Catholic Church is.
Even an excommunicated Catholic is still a Catholic, according to the Catholic faith. You, as a lapsed Catholic now turned atheist might not give two fucks about that, but the folks of faith who have disagreements with the current Vatican have every right to still call themselves Catholics even if their actions cause them to be excommunicated.
I have a Nook, but if I had to do it again, I would probably get a Kindle.
Seems to be fairing better market wise.
Amazon KO'ed Borders and I think B&N is in some danger as well, even though they did realize that e-readers are a big deal.
Also, a couple of blockbusters are closing down around here and their closing banners read, "Store closing. This location only!" Kind of re-arranging deck chairs on the titanic their, blockbuster. and pretty wishful thinking. They were retarded and sluggish in their reaction to Netflix.
It hasn't even occurred to me in some time that Blockbuster is something that still exists. Poor guys.
if you had said only "yes," i would have understood your stance. but if you're an atheist, why would you continue to believe in the power of those sacraments to define a person? it seems to me that believing the B/E/C renders you ineffably Catholic requires a belief in some supernatural power that marks a person through ritual.
if a Catholic who believes the sacraments have supernatural power says that anyone who is baptized etc. is a catholic forever, that seems consistent to me. otherwise i'm not sure what the basis of the definition is.
Why does there need to be a supernatural element? The cultural/social elements seem strong enough on the face of it.
This is an interesting question, and I think the crux of the definitional issue.
To put it simply, I think saying "I'm catholic" automatically suggests belief in god, specifically belief in christ and christian theology, and that you attend a catholic church and receive communion and all that stuff. it doesn't mean you MUST believe all of it to be a catholic, but the word and concept are generally used to describe one's stance on matters moral, spiritual and political.
Saying "I'm a Catholic" and meaning "I'm an atheist but according to the Church I don't believe or follow, I am still technically a Catholic" seems disingenuous or at least tremendously unhelpful. it doesn't really convey useful information, in terms of classifying the person's religious beliefs or lack thereof. it simply answers a binary of B/E/C or not-B/E/C that offers no information about their beliefs or stances on social issues.
Actually I think it does provide good amount of information on their family and the culture they group up in and still in a way participate in even if they are not part of the religious aspect. Its like when I identify as a Jew. I am an atheist. But I grew in a Jewish family. I have Jewish cultural quirks. I have a slight Jewish accent. And I make decisions through that cultural lens.
So someone saying "I'm a Catholic" though they are an atheist are still identify with the large overall culture that has come to them through their family and how they grew up.
So we get stiff once in a while. So we have a little fun. What’s wrong with that? This is a free country, isn’t it? I can take my panda any place I want to. And if I wanna buy it a drink, that’s my business.
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JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
I mean, I really love them. I love reading, looking at them, keeping them in great shape, etc. I kind of have a collector's mentality. But I'm ready to move on for practical reasons. The amount of space they consume is ridiculous, and as I mentioned previously, they're a bitch to move.
I definitely, once I have the werewithal, am planning to ditch all of my library that can be gotten on ereader except for the really important physical objects like the hardcover first editions and the signed copies and so forth.
what about your comics and graphic novels?
I've been ditching the individual comic issues for TPBs for the last eight years or so, but I'm definitely keeping the trade paperback collections and graphic novels. Only a tiny fraction of comics are available legally for electronic devices and so many (especially indie comics) are nonstandard in terms of paper size or shape or orientation that the experience will be weirder and clumsier on a reader than just having the physical object there.
That said, I am totally cool with electronic collections for the not so special, meat-and-potatoes stuff like having a complete run of X-Men from 1963 or whatever. My imaginary endpoint in some future time is I have all my personal favorite books nicely arranged in physical trade dress form (which will be a sizable collection on its own, but less unwieldy than the hodgepodge of books and issues I have now), and then big complete runs of stuff like Superman and Batman and so forth on a hard drive somewhere for those times when I really need to know what happened in Marvel Two-in-One #34 from 1977.
I consider myself catholic in the most technical sense
if you "don't care what the church thinks" you are a still a catholic
you are just a bad catholic
And to answer your question EM: in the same sense that identifying someone as Jewish does not necessarily answer any questions about their religious beliefs. It is a community that has a religion, that is defined by a religion, but does not require actual belief in the religion to be considered a member.
Except, no, it's not at all the same thing as being Jewish.
One can be ethnically Jewish and still an atheist, and since the Jews have, historically, been so tight-knit, it makes sense to refer to someone as Jewish when they are only Jewish in ancestry/culture, and not personal beliefs. It does not make sense to talk in the same way of Catholicism. One can be "culturally Catholic" in the sense that they were raised that way. But it is disingenuous, bordering on useless, to describe yourself as Catholic when you are atheist and don't in any way agree with anything the Church says.
In other news, I have spent way too much money over the past couple of days, but I couldn't resist.
Picked up Halo: ODST on sale from Gamefly for $13 on Wednesday. Then, on Thursday, Fallout 3: GOTY (which comes with all of the DLC) and God of War III were on sale at Gamestop for $20 each (even though I don't own a PS3). Then, yesterday, NewEgg put a great CoolerMaster case on sale for $70; hopefully, that will get me started on buying more components for my computer-to-be that I'm going to piecemeal together over a few months.
thanatos, what you consider a splurge seems to be what other people would consider picking over a junkyard.
Are you hating on Fallout 3?
I mean, I was at Best Buy yesterday, and the Platinum hits edition (with no DLC) was $20.
Plus, that case is actually really nice. Check it out. Now, all I need is some stuff to fill it with.
if you don't care what the Church thinks, why do you call yourself a Catholic, and what makes a person a Catholic (if not agreeing with the Church)?
Elldren said it's the sacraments, but if you don't agree with the Catholic church, then you don't agree with their dogma on the sacraments, so what is the defining characteristic?
Except we're talking about membership in (essentially) a community or organization, so using the actual membership rules of that community or organization makes a whole lot more sense than using the rules some random dude on the internet makes up in order to tell someone else how stupid they are.
"The rules some random dude on the internet makes up" is a funny way to phrase "Actually believing in the stuff your religion deems important."
No, the "rules some random dude on the internet makes up" include such gems like "you can't say you're pro-choice and call yourself Catholic".
Because that's not what the actual theological stance of the Catholic Church is.
Even an excommunicated Catholic is still a Catholic, according to the Catholic faith. You, as a lapsed Catholic now turned atheist might not give two fucks about that, but the folks of faith who have disagreements with the current Vatican have every right to still call themselves Catholics even if their actions cause them to be excommunicated.
I'm not talking about folks of faith. I get the feeling we're talking past each other. I'm talking about people like Elldren, who seem to still consider themselves Catholic because they received sacraments X, Y, and Z. Since the church believes they are Catholic, they still consider themselves Catholic, despite not believing in anything that the Catholic Church believes.
I consider myself catholic in the most technical sense
if you "don't care what the church thinks" you are a still a catholic
you are just a bad catholic
And to answer your question EM: in the same sense that identifying someone as Jewish does not necessarily answer any questions about their religious beliefs. It is a community that has a religion, that is defined by a religion, but does not require actual belief in the religion to be considered a member.
Except, no, it's not at all the same thing as being Jewish.
One can be ethnically Jewish and still an atheist, and since the Jews have, historically, been so tight-knit, it makes sense to refer to someone as Jewish when they are only Jewish in ancestry/culture, and not personal beliefs. It does not make sense to talk in the same way of Catholicism. One can be "culturally Catholic" in the sense that they were raised that way. But it is disingenuous, bordering on useless, to describe yourself as Catholic when you are atheist and don't in any way agree with anything the Church says.
Except for when they tell you that you're Catholic because some old dude says so.
Thanatos on
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ElldrenIs a woman dammitceterum censeoRegistered Userregular
I consider myself catholic in the most technical sense
if you "don't care what the church thinks" you are a still a catholic
you are just a bad catholic
And to answer your question EM: in the same sense that identifying someone as Jewish does not necessarily answer any questions about their religious beliefs. It is a community that has a religion, that is defined by a religion, but does not require actual belief in the religion to be considered a member.
Except, no, it's not at all the same thing as being Jewish.
One can be ethnically Jewish and still an atheist, and since the Jews have, historically, been so tight-knit, it makes sense to refer to someone as Jewish when they are only Jewish in ancestry/culture, and not personal beliefs. It does not make sense to talk in the same way of Catholicism. One can be "culturally Catholic" in the sense that they were raised that way. But it is disingenuous, bordering on useless, to describe yourself as Catholic when you are atheist and don't in any way agree with anything the Church says.
but the whole point is that the person doesn't believe in or follow the institution. anyone can create rules to define people as part of a group, but if you don't ascribe any authority to the person creating those rules, why would you respect their definition?
and really, we're not talking about membership in a community. when someone asks whether you're a Catholic, they're not asking "have you received the three specific sacraments that make you ineffably Catholic according to the rules of that institution?" They're asking "do you have a set of theological and political beliefs/values that generally match those held by the institution in question?"
Except religious faith is not a binary. There are plenty of people who ascribe plenty of authority to the Catholic Church but disagree with that authority's stances on specific issues. There's a whole lot more to Catholic doctrine than a handful of hot-button social issues, for example.
And basing the definition of membership in a religious faith on the definitions established by people not of that faith seems problematic at best.
Lawndart on
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JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
have you ever had to move? physical books greatly lose their charm when you've moved 3 times in 4 years and they compose 80% by weight of your possessions.
I mean, I really love them. I love reading, looking at them, keeping them in great shape, etc. I kind of have a collector's mentality. But I'm ready to move on for practical reasons. The amount of space they consume is ridiculous, and as I mentioned previously, they're a bitch to move.
I definitely, once I have the werewithal, am planning to ditch all of my library that can be gotten on ereader except for the really important physical objects like the hardcover first editions and the signed copies and so forth.
When I moved to Seattle, I got rid of all but a couple of my books.
Best idea I ever had. Seriously, it's so awesome not having all that crap; you won't read 95% of them ever again, so they're just taking up way too much room. Get rid of all the books you can.
Hell. Why not burn them?
Because the public library got a lot more use out of them?
Posts
Also, I forgot who was talking about e-books. I am on my second kindle. I love it. Its great.
I'm rather enjoying physical retailers get screwed by the changing marketplace, because it fucking serves them right for deliberately making life inconvenient for me.
A lot of retailers in Australia are losing sales big time to anyone with some type of online shopping facilities.
if you "don't care what the church thinks" you are a still a catholic
you are just a bad catholic
Picked up Halo: ODST on sale from Gamefly for $13 on Wednesday. Then, on Thursday, Fallout 3: GOTY (which comes with all of the DLC) and God of War III were on sale at Gamestop for $20 each (even though I don't own a PS3). Then, yesterday, NewEgg put a great CoolerMaster case on sale for $70; hopefully, that will get me started on buying more components for my computer-to-be that I'm going to piecemeal together over a few months.
This is an interesting question, and I think the crux of the definitional issue.
To put it simply, I think saying "I'm catholic" automatically suggests belief in god, specifically belief in christ and christian theology, and that you attend a catholic church and receive communion and all that stuff. it doesn't mean you MUST believe all of it to be a catholic, but the word and concept are generally used to describe one's stance on matters moral, spiritual and political.
Saying "I'm a Catholic" and meaning "I'm an atheist but according to the Church I don't believe or follow, I am still technically a Catholic" seems disingenuous or at least tremendously unhelpful. it doesn't really convey useful information, in terms of classifying the person's religious beliefs or lack thereof. it simply answers a binary of B/E/C or not-B/E/C that offers no information about their beliefs or stances on social issues.
But those are rules you made up, not the rules set out by the organization itself
I swear your body does this on purpose after you bite a spot once. Its punishing you for being stupid. Even if it wasn't fully your fault.
Maybe I'm just too left wing.
It hasn't even occurred to me in some time that Blockbuster is something that still exists. Poor guys.
i think i pretty much stopped when i moved out of texas. i guess i just wanted to be an asshole to texans
Naaaahh. Nobody goes to those places.
Just put them on a big ol' fire.
And to answer your question EM: in the same sense that identifying someone as Jewish does not necessarily answer any questions about their religious beliefs. It is a community that has a religion, that is defined by a religion, but does not require actual belief in the religion to be considered a member.
Between On Demand, Red Box, and Net Flix, who really goes there to rent movies anymore?
I go there every few months to buy some used DVDs at their 3 for $20 or whatever prices though.
I have an atheist friend in Texas who does this.
Maybe it's a thing.
and I did fill out the paperwork
you win this round, catholicism
thanatos, what you consider a splurge seems to be what other people would consider picking over a junkyard.
Hello nexuscatholiccrawler.
but the whole point is that the person doesn't believe in or follow the institution. anyone can create rules to define people as part of a group, but if you don't ascribe any authority to the person creating those rules, why would you respect their definition?
and really, we're not talking about membership in a community. when someone asks whether you're a Catholic, they're not asking "have you received the three specific sacraments that make you ineffably Catholic according to the rules of that institution?" They're asking "do you have a set of theological and political beliefs/values that generally match those held by the institution in question?"
No, the "rules some random dude on the internet makes up" include such gems like "you can't say you're pro-choice and call yourself Catholic".
Because that's not what the actual theological stance of the Catholic Church is.
Even an excommunicated Catholic is still a Catholic, according to the Catholic faith. You, as a lapsed Catholic now turned atheist might not give two fucks about that, but the folks of faith who have disagreements with the current Vatican have every right to still call themselves Catholics even if their actions cause them to be excommunicated.
Hubris is a harsh mistress.
Actually I think it does provide good amount of information on their family and the culture they group up in and still in a way participate in even if they are not part of the religious aspect. Its like when I identify as a Jew. I am an atheist. But I grew in a Jewish family. I have Jewish cultural quirks. I have a slight Jewish accent. And I make decisions through that cultural lens.
So someone saying "I'm a Catholic" though they are an atheist are still identify with the large overall culture that has come to them through their family and how they grew up.
How does that work?
I am me... I am totally my own prophet!!
I've been ditching the individual comic issues for TPBs for the last eight years or so, but I'm definitely keeping the trade paperback collections and graphic novels. Only a tiny fraction of comics are available legally for electronic devices and so many (especially indie comics) are nonstandard in terms of paper size or shape or orientation that the experience will be weirder and clumsier on a reader than just having the physical object there.
That said, I am totally cool with electronic collections for the not so special, meat-and-potatoes stuff like having a complete run of X-Men from 1963 or whatever. My imaginary endpoint in some future time is I have all my personal favorite books nicely arranged in physical trade dress form (which will be a sizable collection on its own, but less unwieldy than the hodgepodge of books and issues I have now), and then big complete runs of stuff like Superman and Batman and so forth on a hard drive somewhere for those times when I really need to know what happened in Marvel Two-in-One #34 from 1977.
One can be ethnically Jewish and still an atheist, and since the Jews have, historically, been so tight-knit, it makes sense to refer to someone as Jewish when they are only Jewish in ancestry/culture, and not personal beliefs. It does not make sense to talk in the same way of Catholicism. One can be "culturally Catholic" in the sense that they were raised that way. But it is disingenuous, bordering on useless, to describe yourself as Catholic when you are atheist and don't in any way agree with anything the Church says.
Heh no, I just have my own belief system on things. I'm not my own personal Jesus.
.....or am i?
I mean, I was at Best Buy yesterday, and the Platinum hits edition (with no DLC) was $20.
Plus, that case is actually really nice. Check it out. Now, all I need is some stuff to fill it with.
Why is it different?
Except religious faith is not a binary. There are plenty of people who ascribe plenty of authority to the Catholic Church but disagree with that authority's stances on specific issues. There's a whole lot more to Catholic doctrine than a handful of hot-button social issues, for example.
And basing the definition of membership in a religious faith on the definitions established by people not of that faith seems problematic at best.
do you have a point or are you trolling