[hunter112]

You should tone down you hatred for catholicsm.

Just because I call Catholicism the most sexually suppressed Western religious tradition? What other religion teaches that you're going to hell for masturbation? OK, Mormonism does, too.

You obviously grew up in a catholic home, and have a decidedly different view. It was not your religion it was the religion of your parents. you should find your own.

I did. I'm an athiest. You are quite observant though, perhaps you've met other people who were brought up Catholic? Maybe my reaction to it is not too rare.

If this woman finds solace in the catholic church, why do you feel this desire to denigrate her for it.

She's not just someone I met at a dinner party who is espousing joining a religion as a way of dealing with your inner demons. She's pontificating about her way of life in a mass media article (that I didn't post, by the way) and I get to comment on it.

Now, if she had dealt with her inability to get over her past behavior by becoming an Islamist, would you be just as comfortable with it? To me, it would be the same thing--doing something that is designed to keep a lid on yourself by having an invisible friend 'watching' over you. It's far easier than simply coming to terms with what you did, and resolving to make better choices with your life the next time.

[Campion]

What other religion teaches that you're going to hell for masturbation? OK, Mormonism does, too.

Pretty much every branch of Christianity did until very recently. Martin Luther railed against it.

[Ouderkirk]

I know many former catholics who hold the same view as yourself. I understand this, it was forced on you since it was the religion of your parents and not something that you chose freely. While catholicism has many faults which can be quite glaring and contradictory, it is not the same as that cult of death that is islam.

That aside, this woman is a media creature, being a "journalist" as it were, and she feels compelled to show the world, her new found wisdom.

While her new found wisdom is old hat for you and a view which you have grown out of, persons such as this woman who have not had the benefit of a religious instruction as a child are making a conscious choice as an adult. Remember, converts are always the most zealous.

You should be grateful for the insights that catholicism has given you. It has made you more worldly and allowed you a clarity of vision that this woman lacks.

[Tribune7]

What other religion teaches that you're going to hell for masturbation?

Catholicism doesn't.

[dmw]

"What other religion teaches that you're going to hell for masturbation? "

I thought you could only go blind for masturbating, I had no idea you could go to hell too. Boy, now I'm really scared!!!

[arthurus]

Becoming an Islamist is a political decision that may be informed by one's religion. Becoming a Moslem is a religious decision.

[Mrs. Don-o]

For your elucidation and that of others, let me review the conditions for mortal sin (the kind that really kills your conscience and, thus, your soul): (1) It has to be seriously wrong. (2) You have to know it's seriously wrong. (3) With adequate knowledge and freedom, you have to make a conscious decision to do it anyway.

Doing things that damage your ability to connect and form a stable attachment with someone else sexually -- that's serious damage. It's like taking a GPS device and smacking it a couple of times with a hammer: it may lose its proper directionality, which is outward, toward self-giving love. If you knew that, and you did it anyway, it actually could be spiritually serious.