God Looks A Lot Like A Conservative Columnist, I Guess?

In a column entitled “Pope Statement Derails Religious Unity,” conservative columnist Armstrong Williams showed the world just how shallow and reactionary his thoughts truly are.

I was so disappointed in Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican for releasing a document stating that Roman Catholicism is the only true path to salvation.

He didn’t even come close to saying that. You wouldn’t think that a conservative would take his talking points from New York Times coverage but Mr. Williams clearly didn’t do any more research than reading biased coverage.

The document, restating the views of a 2000 document, also said that other Christian and Orthodox communities are either defective or not true churches.
These actions by the Catholic Church are a big blow to the movement for peace and unity amongst religions and nations.
Instead of a message of hope, peace, or unity, the most prestigious religious leader in the world decisively and divisively stated that other religions and Christian denominations are essentially worthless.

The Church has said the exact opposite so many times as to make this criticism completely worthless. Williams, with his painstaking research habits must have just missed that one itty bitty point.

In a world that is constantly moving towards progression, the Pope has in some ways stunted its growth disability, the ability for citizens to use their own teachings to create a better world. In his almost arrogant approach to peace and world healing, he has allowed non-Roman Catholics to look down upon his church and lose respect not only for such an esteemed figure, but the men and women he leads.

Williams is calling for a better world while name calling the Pope. Nice. And he’s saying that nobody respects Catholics anymore because our Pope is such a meanie. And just so all us Catholics understand the Pope, according to Mr. Williams, is now allowing non-Catholics to look down on us. Nobody ever looked askance at us papists before Pope Benedict 16th. But now, watch out.

No matter what the Bible says, nobody on earth can truly claim to know what God is thinking, feeling, or doing in Heaven. How arrogant must you be to declare that the only way to Heaven is through your church? That the only real church is your own?

Firstly, the Pope didn’t say that. Didn’t come close to saying that. And never will say that. And there’s that name calling again. Is that not a sin in Williams’ Church?

We know from reading scripture that accepting and loving Jesus Christ is “the way” to eternal salvation, so where does the Pope get off saying that the Roman Church is the only church that can provide this? Last I checked, it was God who gave salvation as a gift, not any of us.

I always respect people whose intellectual arguments start off with, “Where does the Pope get off…?

To claim to know the precise interpretation of the Bible is not just irresponsible, it’s sinful. Only God knows.

Did he just accuse the Pope of sinning? I thought only God knows what a sin is. Apparently God and Armstrong Williams know now.

The Catholic Church should be the first to know that we are all sinful, broken human beings. Their involvement in the molesting of thousands of children was disgraceful and hurtful to all of us — not just the victims of abuse. For their leadership to release a document of this nature during the same week that one of its archdioceses paid out $600 million because of clergy abuse, speaks to their arrogance and utter naivety in dealing with the global community.

You knew it was coming, didn’t you? The playbook on attacking the Catholic Church is, “How can the Catholic Church say (insert anything here) when they just had the scandal with the priest abuse?

As the global community shrinks, each of us must cast aside our egos and differences in order to make room for others. When one shirks the global community, all of us are affected.

Did he just tell us to “cast aside our egos.” He can’t be serious here.

The Pope’s message was wrong and I’m sure some day he’ll ask God for forgiveness because of it.

Does God look a lot like Armstrong Williams in his mind? So let me get this straight. The Pope can’t know right from wrong but Armstrong Williams knows who is sinning.

I can only hope that he is cognizant of the frightful world we now live in, and the need for unity and understanding amongst all nations, despite political, religious and personal views. However, in the meantime, we as faithful people of various religions, faiths, and denominations must take the high road, the road our savior demanded that we take, and forgive him for his beliefs. Unity depends on it. If he won’t welcome us, then we need to welcome him, so we can continue on the journey to oneness.

If this is the high road I’m afraid of meeting Mr. Williams on the low road. We must thank Armstrong Williams for advancing the cause of ecumenism today. I hope he can rest well because God knows he’s not putting his time into research or anything like that.