All or nothing as Pope warns of DIY religion

[emad]

All or nothing as Pope warns of DIY religion

Benedict XVI leaves young pilgrims with a tough message on the final day of his German tour

Luke Harding in Cologne
Monday August 22, 2005
The Guardian


Benedict XVI wrapped up his first foreign tour as Pope yesterday with an uncompromising warning that Catholics must strictly follow the church's teachings.

Addressing nearly one million young pilgrims, many of whom had camped overnight in a muddy field outside Cologne, the Pope said that Christians should not choose the bits of doctrine they liked and ignore the rest.

He told a vast open-air mass to mark the end of World Youth Day: "At the same time that God is being forgotten there is a boom in religions ... Religion constructed on a do-it-yourself basis cannot ultimately help us. It may be comfortable but at times of crisis we are left to ourselves."

Last night the Pope flew back to Rome. In his final address he said he hoped his visit had shown the world "the other Germany" of cultural and spiritual resources, in contrast with the shameful evil of the Nazi period.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1553838,00.html

[nickinSTL]

1. no, don't do it yourself...

let the Pope pick and choose for you :eyes:

[ladjf]

2. Of course. The middle man doesn't want to be cut out. Otherwise,

how can he profit?

[kweerwolf]

3. I think his statement was mistranslated

"Religion constructed on a do-it-yourself basis cannot ultimately help us" should have been translated as "When you have constructed a do-it-yourself religion, you cut out the middle man and we don't get our cut! ... Waaaaaaaaaah!"

[Southpaw Bookworm]

4. You mean like the church did

When it decided that eating meat on Fridays was evil, to boost fish sales? Or when it, after a thousand years, decided that priests couldn't marry because too many kids were seeking church property as an inheritance? Or when a bishop in the 300s chose the books of the bible?

I guess that sort of DIY religion is ok.