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Interesting discussion.
Now its my turn to see from the other side. I just spent a couple days with an atheist friend who has in the past been pretty adamant about hating religion. His Dad went from being an over the top charasmatic Catholic to a way over the top some other sect that KNOWS all about the end of the world (sometime next week I believe and now the Catholics are gonna fry too). Anyway his old man disowns him every time he disagrees with his flavor of the month and managed for years to keep he and his brother (now a Catholic) on separate sides of the feud. You have no idea how relieved I was when he quit the Catholics so I didn't have to keep trying to explain the misuse of my faith as a weapon for continued family strife and abuse.
The odd thing for me about the homosexual issues and the church is that as an alter boy I became quite comfortable with priests many of whom were probably gay and as a result I never suffered from the homophobia that some folks try to preach. I always thought the church saw gays as a natural source of clergy so they created an emotional incentive to join the priesthood.
Sycamore- Could you explain a little bit more about being a non-Catholic in a parochial school? Seems like you should have an interesting take on the system. thanks G
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