Fred's on the left. The guy on the right is the demonic preacher from Poltergeist II.
Posted on 05/04/2008 8:10:13 PM PDT by markomalley
That the pope should come to American soil is a disgrace. That he should be here during Passover is an insult.
The history of the Catholic Church is a history of persecution and oppression. Along with Protestants and Baptists, chief among its victims were the Jews. The pope is the head of this religious system. His stand in defense of human rights and the life of the unborn is a sham.
Where were Benedict's predecessors when the church slaughtered thousands of Jews, Protestants and Baptists because they would not convert to Catholicism? What stand on the rights of the individual did the church take then?
Which pope repudiated the Inquisition, stopped the burning of dissenters and admitted his papal predecessors had erred in authorizing such atrocities?
The blood of millions stains the papal robes and drips from his pious hands.
The Catholic Church has been an enemy of the Jews. For centuries, it hunted them down as "Christ killers." America has done well to reject papal involvement in its affairs. It should continue to do so.
America has done well to befriend Israel. It should continue to do so. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the one true God. His seed, Jesus, is the Messiah. God promised to bless all peoples through Abraham, to bless those who bless Abraham and to curse those who curse him. The Jewish people are the heirs of these promises. We should not honor those who have hated them.
George Bush broke with 200 years of presidential protocol to welcome this man at Andrews Air Force Base and to honor him at a reception in the White House. These actions should have no place in a country that loves its political and religious liberty.
Kenneth T. Brooks
Pastor
Calvary Independent Baptist Church
REDDING
I read, with considerable interest, Pastor Kenneth Brooks' recent diatribe (letter, April 25) in opposition to the visit of Benedict XVI and Catholicism in general.
I found the letter filled with negativism, divisiveness, vindictiveness and hostility. His attempt to set back the trend towards Christian unity is both offensive and contra-productive.
His thoughts may be understandable in the light of some of the notorious events in church history. However, such events were the work of fallible human beings who should have known better and which were contrary to the basic tenets of Christianity.
In recent memory, since the pontificate of John XXIII, much good work has been performed in the spirit of ecumenism. Dwelling on past evils serves no useful purpose when a positive, forward looking approach is called for.
I believe recent popes have attempted to do this. I would have expected a Christian pastor to emphasize sentiments of faith, hope, love and forgiveness, as well as the commandment to love thy neighbor. Evidently, this was not Pastor Brooks' purpose.
St. Paul tells us, "Love is patient, kind, not jealous, not pompous, not inflated, not rude, does not seek its own interest, and does not rejoice in wrong doing. Of the virtues of faith, hope and love, the greatest of these is love."
Think I'll take St. Paul's sentiments rather than Pastor Brooks'. God help him.
William E. Schappert
BROOKFIELD
(5/1/2008). Source: http://www.newstimes.com/ci_9116896
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.
And one more response:
Cancerous thoughts
on Catholic Church
In response to Pastor Kenneth Brooks (letter, April 25):
It always saddens me when I read a letter written by a person of influence within his community which contradicts and insults the reader.
Unfortunately, Pastor Brooks did not have the same foundation that my family has given me. I am Roman Catholic. My extended family on both sides includes Protestants and Jews as well as Catholics. I was raised with a strong sense of religious tolerance and respect for all beliefs that fell outside of my Roman Catholicism.
These ideas seem to be passing down to my children as well. My daughter celebrates the Passover Seder with her dear friend and her family every year. I love them for including my daughter in this sacred holiday.
It is the 21st century and Pastor Brooks’ letter reeks of the fanatical hatred of the unenlightened dark ages!
How can anyone, in a world of globalization, really function properly with these cancerous thoughts?
Pastor Brooks, in his message, serves not only to demean himself but the Baptist Church and its membership.
Stella Eidt
DANBURY
Date: 5/2/2008
Source: http://www.newstimes.com/ci_9129745
Here’s the bigot:
http://cibcredding.org/html/about.html
He looks like a decent enough guy. Too bad he is so ignorant of history.
Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this craziness. This is happening in my neck of the woods. I never buy the paper and haven’t checked it online today. It is a shame the Rev. feels this way but I think the church is a small one in Danbury and has a black, hispanic population.
Really wonder if the Rev. Wright has inspired some preachers to be more boisterous.
Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this craziness. This is happening in my neck of the woods. I never buy the paper and haven’t checked it online today. It is a shame the Rev. feels this way but I think the church is a small one in Danbury and has a black, hispanic population.
Really wonder if the Rev. Wright has inspired some preachers to be more boisterous.
Note to Pastor Brooks: You’re just jealous.
Scary. Almost unhinged with hate.
I just wondered what his username was...
From his Web site:
“You’ll be hard pressed to find a friendlier group of people than those that will greet you in our church.”
Unless you’re the Pope...
I simply found it creepy. The person who wrote that is SEETHING with hate.
I would have expected a Christian pastor to emphasize sentiments of faith, hope, love and forgiveness, as well as the commandment to love thy neighbor.
—
Nailed it there..
Boy, no kidding.
OMG!!! The Protestant world has gone CRAZY!!! So much ANTI-Catholic HATE...I had no idea that the Breakaway religions despised the Church like this. It is sickening to call Pope Benedict and the Church such things.
So sad but true.
Nothing the Pope could say or do would appease this man. The bitterness runs too deep.
With the usual twist of irony, "religious liberty" is invoked as the reason why the Pope should be denied access to his own flock.
WHAT THE HELL???? I NEVER have heard "Christ killers" and HUNTED THEM DOWN???/ What a pathetic LIAR this man is......he has led his sheep astray with LIES.
Fred's on the left. The guy on the right is the demonic preacher from Poltergeist II.
I think this is wonderful. We need people such as Pastor Kenneth Brooks if we are to maintain the continious, unrivaled, ignorant hate that festers between different religious groups. Yup, sincerely religious believers are the best people there is.
Please don't put all Protestants in the same category as this hateful little man.
So, what is the pastor’s handle here at FR?
Believe it. This craziness manifests itself here on a regular basis.
You are kidding aren't you? Do you ever read some of the posts on this web site. The Princes' of Darkness visit often.
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this craziness.”
1 bigot,
1 letter,
15 minutes of fame.
“This too shall pass.”
If the preacher could read, he might try visiting The Vatican web page to find many repudiations of the Inquisition.
I'm not even Cathloc and I did it.
From ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER POPE JOHN PAUL II
TO AN INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE INQUISITION - Saturday, 31 October 1998
Ladies and Gentlemen! The problem of the Inquisition belongs to a troubled period of the Church’s history, which I have invited Christians to revisit with an open mind. As I wrote in the Apostolic Letter Tertio millennio adveniente: “Another painful chapter of history to which the sons and daughters of the Church must return with a spirit of repentance is that of the acquiescence given, especially in certain centuries, to intolerance and even the use of violence in the service of the truth” (n. 35).
35. Another painful chapter of history to which the sons and daughters of the Church must return with a spirit of repentance is that of the acquiescence given, especially in certain centuries, to intolerance and even the use of violence in the service of truth.
It is true that an accurate historical judgment cannot prescind from careful study of the cultural conditioning of the times, as a result of which many people may have held in good faith that an authentic witness to the truth could include suppressing the opinions of others or at least paying no attention to them. Many factors frequently converged to create assumptions which justified intolerance and fostered an emotional climate from which only great spirits, truly free and filled with God, were in some way able to break free. Yet the consideration of mitigating factors does not exonerate the Church from the obligation to express profound regret for the weaknesses of so many of her sons and daughters who sullied her face, preventing her from fully mirroring the image of her crucified Lord, the supreme witness of patient love and of humble meekness. From these painful moments of the past a lesson can be drawn for the future, leading all Christians to adhere fully to the sublime principle stated by the Council: "The truth cannot impose itself except by virtue of its own truth, as it wins over the mind with both gentleness and power".(19) From the Vatican, on 10 November in the year 1994, the seventeenth of my Pontificate.
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LETTER OF JOHN PAUL II
To my Venerable Brother Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, 1. I receive with deep appreciation the volume containing the Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Inquisition, organized at the Vatican from 29-31 October 1998 by the Historical-Theological Commission for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. This Symposium answered the desire I expressed in the Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennium Adveniente: "...it is appropriate that... the Church should become more fully conscious of the sinfulness of her children, recalling all those times in history when they departed from the spirit of Christ and his Gospel and, instead of offering to the world the witness of a life inspired by the values of faith, indulged in ways of thinking and acting which were truly forms of counter-witness and scandal" (n. 33). In public opinion, the image of the Inquisition is as it were the symbol of such counter-witness and scandal. How faithful to reality is this image? Before asking for forgiveness it is necessary to have exact knowledge of the facts and to put shortcomings with regard to what the Gospel requires in the context where they are effectively found. This is the reason why the Committee has consulted historians whose scientific competence is universally recognized. 2. For theologians, the irreplaceable contribution of historians contains an invitation to reflect on the conditions and life of the People of God on its way through history. The theologians will be guided by a distinction in their critical reflection: the distinction between the authentic sensus fidei and the predominant mentality in a specific epoch that might have influenced their opinion. The sensus fidei must be asked to exercise the criteria of a level judgment of the life of the Church in the past. 3. This discernment is possible precisely because with the passage of time the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, perceives with ever clearer awareness what she needs in order to conform to her Bridegroom. Thus, the Second Vatican Council was able to formulate the "golden rule" that directs the defence of the truth, which is the task proper to the mission of the Magisterium. "Truth can impose itself on the mind of man only in virtue of its own truth..., which wins over the mind with both gentleness and power" (Dignitatis Humanae, n. 1. This assertion is quoted in Tertio Millennium Adveniente, cf. n. 35). The institution of the Inquisition has been abolished. As I had an opportunity to say to the participants in the Symposium, the children of the Church cannot but return with a spirit of repentance to "the acquiescence given, especially in certain centuries, to intolerance and even the use of violence in the service of the truth" (Address to the International Symposium on the Inquisition Organized by the Central Committee for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, 31 October 1998, n. 4; L'Osservatore Romano English edition, [ORE], 11 November 1998, p. 3). This spirit of repentance, it is clear, entails a firm determination to seek in the future ways to bear witness to the truth that are in keeping with the Gospel. 4. On 12 March 2000, on the occasion of the liturgical celebration that marked the Day of Pardon, forgiveness was asked for errors committed in the service of the truth by recourse to methods not in keeping with the Gospel. The Church must carry out this service in imitation of her Lord, meek and humble of heart. The prayer I addressed to God on that occasion contains the reasons for a request for forgiveness that can also be applied to the tragedies associated with the Inquisition, as well as to the injuries to memory that result from it. "Lord, God of all men and women, Have mercy on your sinful children The beautiful volume containing the Proceedings of the Symposium is written in the spirit of this request for forgiveness. As I thank all the participants, I invoke the divine Blessing upon them. From the Vatican, 15 June 2004 JOHN PAUL II
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heck I didn’t even spell it right!
WHAT THE HELL???? I NEVER have heard "Christ killers" and HUNTED THEM DOWN???/ What a pathetic LIAR this man is......he has led his sheep astray with LIES.
The Parable of a Good Samaritan
How Pope Pius XII Helped the Jews During World War II
America killed nearly all of the Indians. The pope should have snubbed us, to stick up for them.
No, he has that weird look about him like Kazinski.
That the Catholic Church has a shameful history in some regards does not mean it is shameful now. Catholics, just like other Christians, get to repent and be forgiven. If the Pope spouted crap like Jeremiah Wright, I would agree with the author. He does not.
“America killed nearly all of the Indians.”
Yes.
Or rather, no.
Sorry but this guy has read too many Jack Chick leaflets!
Scary. Almost unhinged with hate.
++
Many people see only this kind of “Christian” and sees all of us that way.
The comments are so disgraceful and this is my home state.
Beat me to it.
What’s Brooks’ FR screenname?
I can point to Freepers who are quite certain the pope is the antichrist.
Anti-Catholic hate like this should surprise no one.
Well you know and I know the Pope is NOT the antichrist, so pray their ignorance be ended. Now do you know who the antichrist is?
Mel Torme?
Sounds like a case of Rodney Dangerfield.... can't get no respect.
Would that be like asking Charlie Manson if he was guilty of murder???
So is this Kenneth Brooks guy your pastor, or is he ... you?
Nope...Not me...And not my pastor...
I didn’t think anyone from Connecticut got that mouth-foaming about ANYTHING!
LET ME IN!!
I bet he was OK with Ahmadinejad’s visit though.
Are we sure Pastor Brooks is not a FReeper? Some of the postrers on FR seem to be fellow travelers, at the very least.
1. Presidents of the US have ordered, in the past, things that could be regarded today as crimes against humanity (forcible relocation of Indians under Andrew Jackson, for example.
2. There have been Presidents who have owned slaves, and Presidents who have been vehemently pro-slavery
3. There are presidents who have started wars that killed many people. The Spanish American War, Iraq, The Civil War...
4. There are presidents who used their office to clamp down on people’s rights to increase their power-—John Adams with the Alien and sedition acts
Does this mean the Presidency is evil? No, it means too much power can corrupt people and magnify their human flaws
The past crimes of former Popes do not mean that the Papacy is inherently evil, nor does it reflect on Benedict XVI
Exactly.
Even though I not Catholic I would welcome the Pope into my home and this country. He may not be my mediator to God but he is a man of God like may good pastors I know.
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