X-Message-Number: 28490
From: 
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2006 10:46:59 EDT
Subject: Francois post, rant and report on Catholic church

In a message dated 9/24/2006 5:00:47 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
 writes:

Message  #28484
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2006 13:17:53 -0400
From: Francois  <>
Subject: On the difficulties to sell  cryonics.



The Francois post today was a highly educated, anthropologically astute  
analysis of the challenges of  "selling cryonics."
 
This weekend I have attended no less than THREE (count them, THREE)  Catholic 
functions.  The reason was that our good friends (wife Dawn calls  them her 
adopted parents) had their 50th wedding celebration.  

Along with the 50th wedding celebration, ironically, they also had a  

memorial service for their 42 year old son who died of diabetes, and poor self  
care 
relating to diabetes.  
 
So, I had more than ample opportunity to see the workings of the Catholic  

Church.   These people have had literally thousands of years to figure  out the
most effective means of mass marketing (pun intended).    

While the invitation was billed as a "50th Wedding Anniversary  Celebration" 
and the a "Memorial Service", all events followed a similar  pattern.  
 
They were basically Catholic catechism and indoctrination sessions,  

surrounded by truly beautiful music in an exquisitely tasteful and religious  
icon 

filled setting.  So, we basically had a Catholic Mass, a bit  customized for the
anniversary or memorial occasion.  Thus, the pun "Mass  Marketing."  
 
And, yes, Francois, the bottom line "text" had to do with our racial  

anticipation and consequent worries about death.  Paul, the 42 year rather  
sweet man 
whose diabetes and resultant bad self care resulted in his death, was  said 
to be "in a better place, because he had accepted the mystery of  faith."  
 
Lots of nonsense about the blood of Jesus taking away the sins of the  world. 
 And then ALL services have a ritual in which we "Eat the flesh of  Christ," 
a symbolic ritual in which the priest feeds a wafer to each  Catholic there 
while pronouncing this IS THE "Body of Christ."   (I  thought about getting in 
line to see what the body of christ tasted like, but I  thought better of it!)
 
There is also a HUGE infrastructure of responsive readings, chants that are  
led by the chief neocheater...er...excuse me, head priest, agreement that the  
Bible is the "word of the Lord" and various other effective, indeed rather  
comforting rituals.  And the infrastructure of the churches themselves is  
stunning.  Spacious, artistic, comfortable, with good public address  systems, 
custom designed to make the experience comfortable, comforting, and  warm.  
 
Of course, the big factor is the amazing SOCIAL infrastructure.  Most  of our 
square dance friends are Catholic, and the outpouring of friendship,  
emotional support, help with event planning, and caring and support of the  
celebrants is genuine, in my opinion.
 
Each service seemed LONG...good brainwashing takes some time...I would  guess 
1.5 to 2 hours.  Although I promise it seemed MUCH longer to me!  LOL!
 
In the narthex of the church I picked up some of the literature.   There I 

learned in an ironically titled piece, "Saving Lives" about the  important work
this group was doing to outlaw gay marriages and eliminate  abortion options.  
Of course, these are also the folks who powerfully and  effectively lobby to 
criminalize stem cell research.  After all, we know a  blastocyst of eight 

cells is MUCH more important in God's eyes than a fully  formed human who is in
pain or dying because of the numerous diseases  potentially fixable with stem 
cell research.
 
And why bother with cryonics if death is a good thing?  If we all have  "The 
sure and certain hope of resurrection with Christ" after death, what do we  
need with this old and broken body anyway?  
 
There were numerous memes (oops, didn't mean to bring up a controversial  

word!) which were antithetical to science, rationalism, and a critical thinking
epistomology.  You are supposed to take these fairy tales on FAITH.   The more 
faithful you are, the less questioning of details, the better person  you 
are.  
 
My wife could not understand...still does not...WHY the whole experience  

bothered me so much.  She says she enjoys the singing, the rituals, and  
believes 
in a God who cares.  
 
Needless to say, the resultant discussion with my wife was less than  

satisfactory.  We simply have to stay away from these  discussions...unfortunate

because these kind of values discussions are  important.  As I write this, she 
is 
saying something about "Don't let your  experience this weekend put you in a 
bad mood and have you post a ranting post  about the Catholic church."  But I 
am doing this anyway.  (Except for  the bad mood part.)
 
Anyway, responsibilties call...there is much more I would like to do to  both 
vent about my annoyance with religion in general and the Catholic church in  
particular...and also to see exactly HOW rational and secular individuals can  
substitute celebration rituals that have meaning and provide some substitute 
for  the clearly necessary place we have in our hearts for such things.
 
Kind thoughts to all, even and especially my many religious and Catholic  
friends...
 
Rudi
 
 


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