It's been a little over a month since I've blogged, but like I said at the beginning I am super busy and don't have a lot of spare time to sleep, let alone post a blog.
Today's topic: Respect.
I want to start off by saying that I can take a joke. People make fun of me all the time because apparently I have funny reactions. I can take a few jokes, I'm short, or I played that improv solo really funk in jazz band. I say stupid things and run into doors. Like, I'm your ideal person to make fun of. And that's okay, I like to laugh and usually laugh at myself along with everyone else.
But lately, a teacher of mine has been crossing the line. I won't go into details because I don't remember the exact wording of the jokes, but he has been critiquing the Catholic Church. I have already sent him an e-mail about it, explaining something that he obviously did not understand or care enough to research before talking about in class. That helped for one class period. Then, the Pope decided to step down and the jokes and all-out rants have taken up significant portions of class. I have a strict policy with myself where I don't let myself correct a teacher in class or really act aggressive. The teacher knows what they're doing, and I know how much hard work they put into their degree and job. Therefore, if something seems fishy I'll just look it up later and maybe ask them about it after class or something. This policy might change shortly, though.
If you're not Catholic, there's a high chance that...umm....you MIGHT NOT know everything about what we believe! Crazy thought, right? The funny thing I've noticed in this class is that when we talked about the Great Schism and Reformation (Martin Luther ring a bell? If not, go ahead and look it up), I've heard multiple people say things like, "This was a blow to the Catholic Church" or "The Catholic Church never really recovered from this." My response? You're an idiot.
The Catholic Church has defended every single attack (that is actually logical, you know those crazies are out there) that has been thrown at it. Martin Luther's theses? All fixed in the Council of Trent shortly afterwards. Have a question? Look it up! Like I said earlier, your chances of being wrong about something you don't know about is extremely high, regardless of your guessing abilities. Sorry, guys, that's just the way it is. The Catholic Church has this fun little book called the Catechism. You can even find it online! Handy-dandy, right? This book goes through several things that have been attacked in the past, gives the church's response, and EXPLAINS WHY that is the church's response. Recently, I've been told that I probably didn't learn about evolution and Charles Darwin in high school biology because Catholics don't believe in evolution. I informed this person that actually, I DID learn about evolution in my ADVANCED biology class, did this person know that Pope John Paul II issued a "Truth Cannot Contradict Truth" speech way back in 1996? Nope! Catholics believe in evolution, science backs it up, it makes sense. There's fossil evidence. I have absolutely no issues with evolution being taught in schools. It contradicts with the creation story in the Bible? Gasp! There's actually TWO creation stories in Genesis that contradict with each other, so don't try to pull that one on me. Catholics do not read the Bible literally, that's a Protestant thing. Although both are important, we care more about WHY something is in there rather than WHAT is in there physically.
That's just one of many examples. I typically shut my mouth when I see attack posts throughout my newsfeed. Religious people are anti-science? Interesting. We wouldn't have the electric motor without Catholics. Thanks, Br. Andrew Gordon, O.S.B.! How about Father Nicholas Copernicus? Heard of him? One of the great polymaths of the Renaissance, Copernicus was a Polish Catholic priest, mathematician, astronomer, jurist with a doctorate in law, physician, quadrilingual polyglot, classics scholar, translator, artist, governor, diplomat and economist (Catholic Memes). The Big Bang Theory was proposed by...Fr. Georges Lemaître. Genetics? Abbot Gregor Mendel, O.S.A. Friar Roger Bacon, O.F.M brought us the scientific method. Boom goes the dynamite!
Look it up before you post it. Seriously. You're just plain ignorant of what you're talking about, especially when they're sources for you out there that are easily accessible. If you want to know an answer and get totally philosophically owned/enlightened at the same time, I encourage you to check out some of St. Thomas Aquinas's writings. He was a beast. One of my favorite saints! Seriously, though, he was a genius.
Anyway, that's all for today. Hopefully my teacher stops being an ass and all of you are a little more informed on something you didn't know much about before. :)
Have a happy day!
No comments:
Post a Comment