Religion in Italy

[Noheajack]

Hi, I'm quite new in this forum, and I'm happy to find a site where people like anime, but are also religious.
Because here in Italy, the problem is that usually people think about religion that, yes.. they believe in God, but they don't give much importance to him and to religion in generally, and I think that is not good, because, the religion is the most important thing in our life, and it must come always for first.
PS
Sorry for my english, is not always correct!

[Jasdero]

First off, welcome. And now... the heritage connection. My father's Italian. ^^ We lived there [off and on] for about two years. Lovely place. It's great to have you here, Noheajack. As for religion in Italy.... I really didn't know too much about that while I was there... I'm sorry to hear that... V_V

[Your English is beautiful. You write better than quite a few people that are in my high school.]

[wilson1112000]

Hello, my friend. It is nice to see people from other cultures. Also, to see someone who seems so on fire for God. I hope to see you on other areas of the forum.

( And, to add, you have better English abilities than many of my friends in my town.)

[Noheajack]

Thank you!

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Welcome and enjoy your stay!
By the way religion isn't the most imortant thing in life, having a loving RELATIONSHIP with Jesus is!

God is Good, All the Time
All the Time, God is Good!

[dragonshimmer]

Welcome! I think that it is nice to see that this site has such a wide variety of cultures! It is good to see you here, and welcome! I hope that you will enjoy fellowship with people who love God as much as you do....I am sure that you will!

Your English is better than some of my college age friends' English, so you are just fine!

On a side note....My university choir is touring and performing in Italy this summer. We will be there for two weeks! I am really looking forward to it.

[ice122985]

welcome; allow me to express my hope that you like it here.

As for religion in Italy, well, it sounds like you are describing religion in the Valley: indifferent.

So stay strong man.

[Ducky]

Hiya! welcome to CAA... my mum is Italian ^_^ your english is beautiful and your sentence structure reminds me of home ... it's so precise...

I get what you're saying about religion in Italy because it sounds exactly like what my Italian relatives believe. An attutude that says "Sure religion is good ... but I have more important things to worry about and I'm basically a good person so I'm all set." It's good to hear someone from that background who really cares about God ^_^.

[CDLviking]

That seems to me to be the general attitude of most European countries, which is really sad considering that Europe was once the heart of Christianity.

[Fsiphskilm]

I'm not trying to

[CDLviking]

I would agree with you on the point that that is why they go to Church even though they don't know why, but I think other factors such as the growth of secular humanism are responsible for the lack of faith. I still think it's good that they at least go to Church, you never know when grace may move them towards a deeper faith.

[Ingemar]

It's amazing that a country that spawned the likes of Ambrose of Milan, Dante and others would join the rest of the godless masses. It is even more amazing that the countries who suffered the full brunt of so-called Christian Europe's bloody excesses should, in the present time, burn with a greater fervour for the Gospel than its backslidden forebears. I don't know how this happened, and I am not quick to postulate Marx's screed of religion being the opiate of the masses. Instead, I would say that comfort is the anaesthetic of those suffering the metastasiszing effects of rejecting God.

Actually, in the early days, the center of Christianity would have been Syria, Palestine and Asia Minor. If I had told the Apostles that the very heart of the evil principalities that hounded them would be the center sixteen centuries, I'm sure they would be very shocked.

[Zane]

Stuff isn't going well in Europe as a whole, France has 10% Muslims, and rising, alot of cult and Satanic sects around and the instiution used for spreading the evangelical message.... aka the church isn't helping either. But there is hope.

Germany, to which Im alot closer, things arn't wonderful either. People will say; "Im a Christian... Im not a buddist, or muslim or hindu..etc therefore I am a Christian.. or Atheist". But once again there is hope for the people of Europe, there is a strong although minor Christian population committed to save their people.

At least Europe still has Christians to share the gospel, unlike the 10-40 window were the message wil;l have to come from abroad. God will get there though, good on Him

[Noheajack]

sorry that I didn't reply before, but I forgot that I wrote this message! I'm a little bit careless!

By the way religion isn't the most imortant thing in life, having a loving RELATIONSHIP with Jesus is!

great concept, that's true^_^

so I've also read that lots of you understand the quite bad religious situation in Italy. By me, I do my role as the best as I can(is correct in english what I've say?) and fortunatly, the Pope is a great and good person.

See you!

[uc pseudonym]

I can very much relate to the situation you have described, and I do think it is sad. That aside, however, welcome to the forums. We are glad to have you with us.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

welcome ^^

[KOBUSHInoTENSHU]

That seems to me to be the general attitude of most European countries, which is really sad considering that Europe was once the heart of Christianity.

eh? The Middle East is the heart. Christainity just had A TON of influence on Europe. Even tho most ppl dont beileve and ppl paganized and perversed it (Crusades,Pope..)

[uc pseudonym]

I believe by "heart" he meant that it contained the majority of the world's Christians. Christianity spread out from there (regardless of how you feel about those practicing it), making the heart metaphor really quite apt. You mean "heart" more as in source, which is also true.

Meanwhile, I would hope we do not become sidetracked by any denominational issues...

[Fsiphskilm]

The church has

[Arnobius]

I'm a bit ashamed of how I behaved when I first came here, so if it's OK, I'd like to kill the posts.

[mitsuki lover]

Europe is becoming more secular than even Japan.Let's face it in the future
the greatest hope for Christianity will be coming from countries like China,
Japan and the African countries where they still take Christianity seriously.
I suspect in years to come we will begin seeing missioniaries from Japan,
Korea,China,Kenya,Ethiopia,etc.traveling to evangelize America,Canada
and Europe.

[Arnobius]

[Fsiphskilm]

[quote="AnimeHeretic"]

[uc pseudonym]

Moderators? Do you tolerate this on your forums? Because if you do, I'm quitting. This is rank intolerance being posted here. I'm disappointed to see moderators posting on the thread without responding to this.

And, in answer to YOUR quote, europe is very secular, and the Church is generally ignored in all areas, where it tries to do any moral teaching. Were Europe as you say, abortion, contraception, euthanasia etc would all be outlawed-- something which is very much NOT the case.

What I am seeing a lot of in this particular thread is good old-fashioned anti-Catholic prejudice, formed out of ignorance (the center of the Church was not Syria as one poster put it. It was Jerusalem until AD70, and by then both Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome [Which gave the place special status in the early Church]. Paul felt called to evangelize the West, not the East and his epistles are addressed to Greek, Turkish and Roman churches).

Once again, I ask the moderators to intervene when posters are submitting this kind of trash out of respect to all Christian beliefs.

I hope you do not mind if I take this personally. Not that I mean I will feel offended and rant at you, but just that it does address me personally as a moderator and as the only person that your comment of "disappointed" could apply to. However, that means that my answer is not a defense of the policies of CAA (which I hope do not apply for reasons to be seen later).

My response is multi-fold, and I hope that it in some way clears my name:

1) Under ordinary circumstances, I would have immediately posted stating that such negativity should not exist. However, it was directly followed by a post by CDLviking, who is in Catholic seminary. I felt his post somewhat balanced Volt's.

2) I believe I at least in some way understand the manner in which Volt speaks. It was (and is) my belief that his comment was not rank intolerance; I believe he has just as swiftly termed other branches of Christianity at fault for other problems with the world. It was not a condemnation of an entire branch of Christianity. He will post before me, so I am uncertain what light will be cast on this statement.

3) The issue had not been pursued. Often, when issues such as that are pointed at, the only result is wider spread intolerance and a derailed thread. Drawing attention to it would not have helped in any way.

4) My post was not entirely ignoring the issue, but instead attempting to focus solely on the intended topic of the thread and reduce any further argument.

5) You will notice that at the time that any moderator entered the thread the statement in question was nearly two months old.

6) Ultimately, however, the answer to your question is: no, we do not allow disrespect for any branch of Christianity on the forums. It is quite possible that my decision regarding that post was a mistake.

[Ingemar]

>What I am seeing a lot of in this particular thread is good old-fashioned anti-Catholic prejudice, formed out of ignorance (the center of the Church was not Syria as one poster put it. It was Jerusalem until AD70, and by then both Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome [Which gave the place special status in the early Church]. Paul felt called to evangelize the West, not the East and his epistles are addressed to Greek, Turkish and Roman churches).

You left out the fact that I mentioned Asia Minor and Palestine (and guess which major Biblical city happened to BE in Palestine?). Syria was not the center, to be sure, but those countries certainly were the center of gravity of the early Christian faith. Peter's tomb is indeed in Rome, right under the basillica that bears his name, but Western Europe didn't become *the* center of gravity of Christendom until the rise of the Muslim caliphates. Until then, much of Christianity was spread over the Byzantine empire, the Middle East, and even Ethiopia.

I do not see anything "anti-Catholic" about my previous post. I was merely stating facts.

[Technomancer]

I'm not trying to start something but it's obvious roman catholisism is responsible, the church scared people to death and so anyone NOT religous was seen as anti-christ. So the poeple of europe did what the church forced them to do. Go to church.

Your attempt to find blame in the Church alone is more than a little debatable when you consider church attendance in the Protestant parts of Europe. In northern Germany and Scandanvia the state religions were historically Lutheran (or Anglican/Presbetyrian in England/Scotland). I doubt the figures there are any better. Your point about the association of the church with the local power structure is well taken however, when the religious authorties side with corrupt and oppressive regimes, they and their faith inevitably lose credibility. The anti-clericalism of the enlightenment didn't just come about by accident after all.

However, while past religious authorities must shoulder some of the blame, the problem really is much more complex. Other factors include affluence, rationalist or secular philosophies, greater individual liberties, etc.

[Arnobius]

[CDLviking]

I think now that we have clarified our positions we should just let this issue fade or take it to PMs before the thread gets closed.