It’s always fascinating to me to think that the popes most likely do not believe that anything in their religion is actually true, and are only playing along with it because they either want the power associated, or in the case of this one seemingly, think that it’s an effective way of wrangling the opinions of the idiot masses. It really must be a very interesting mentality they have.
If you read up on Pope Leo’s life, you see that he most definitely was not in it for luxuries and power.
I am no fan of the church as an institution, particularly for what it’s done in the past both on grand scales of violence as well as institutional coverups of abuse, but I know that a massive segment of our world does still look to the church for moral guidance and does not feel aligned with the abuses of the past. I know a lot of people don’t relate to that but it’s kind of wired into our human condition at this point to seek out higher power to align with, so we can’t just dismiss everyone who looks to the church as idiots, nor those running the church as scammers or grifters.
I don’t know if in his heart of heart someone like Pope Leo really believes the literal truth behind what he’s taught and upheld in poverty stricken regions and while trying to bring communities together, it’s probably more nuanced than that, but I don’t think you sacrifice so much in your life unless you think there’s SOME level of higher-calling or greater reward for preserving some kind of faith. I can’t really relate, I have no faith, but I don’t look down on those who do have faith. I mean, the universe is absurd, I can’t judge one kind of absurdity over another, I just don’t have use for emotional appeasement about fear of death.
One of in not the best people morally speaking I’ve ever met is pretty religious. I’ve not gotten into detailed discussion with her about the nuances of it because I have no faith and I don’t really want to fuck with whatever she has going on because like I said she is a wonderful human being but she points her religion as the source of her values. I’ve never seen her act with malice or dishonesty towards anyone, even people being ignorant to her where it would have been completely justified. She also doesn’t preach or expect anyone else to follow her beliefs either which is nice.
I think there’s plenty of people who participate in churches (of any flavor) without necessarily buying in to the spiritual aspects. The social aspect of churches provides people with all sorts of benefits.
This guy has devoted his life to the church, with an infinitesimally small chance of rising high enough for it to be “an effective way of wrangling the opinions of the idiot masses” so it seems unlikely that he doesn’t believe any of it.
It’s always fascinating to me to think that the popes most likely do not believe that anything in their religion is actually true, and are only playing along with it because they either want the power associated, or in the case of this one seemingly, think that it’s an effective way of wrangling the opinions of the idiot masses. It really must be a very interesting mentality they have.
If you read up on Pope Leo’s life, you see that he most definitely was not in it for luxuries and power.
I am no fan of the church as an institution, particularly for what it’s done in the past both on grand scales of violence as well as institutional coverups of abuse, but I know that a massive segment of our world does still look to the church for moral guidance and does not feel aligned with the abuses of the past. I know a lot of people don’t relate to that but it’s kind of wired into our human condition at this point to seek out higher power to align with, so we can’t just dismiss everyone who looks to the church as idiots, nor those running the church as scammers or grifters.
I don’t know if in his heart of heart someone like Pope Leo really believes the literal truth behind what he’s taught and upheld in poverty stricken regions and while trying to bring communities together, it’s probably more nuanced than that, but I don’t think you sacrifice so much in your life unless you think there’s SOME level of higher-calling or greater reward for preserving some kind of faith. I can’t really relate, I have no faith, but I don’t look down on those who do have faith. I mean, the universe is absurd, I can’t judge one kind of absurdity over another, I just don’t have use for emotional appeasement about fear of death.
One of in not the best people morally speaking I’ve ever met is pretty religious. I’ve not gotten into detailed discussion with her about the nuances of it because I have no faith and I don’t really want to fuck with whatever she has going on because like I said she is a wonderful human being but she points her religion as the source of her values. I’ve never seen her act with malice or dishonesty towards anyone, even people being ignorant to her where it would have been completely justified. She also doesn’t preach or expect anyone else to follow her beliefs either which is nice.
I think there’s plenty of people who participate in churches (of any flavor) without necessarily buying in to the spiritual aspects. The social aspect of churches provides people with all sorts of benefits.
This guy has devoted his life to the church, with an infinitesimally small chance of rising high enough for it to be “an effective way of wrangling the opinions of the idiot masses” so it seems unlikely that he doesn’t believe any of it.