Nahh.. That's like me saying all atheists are faggots, just because I can quote 4 or 5 (or 20-40) atheist homos doesn't mean all of them are. You point out 1 or 2 bad popes and what ever, it's not something every catholic goes by. I'm not a catholic I might add, though I am christian.

I'm not a catholic so I don't know about the catholic policies, the pope isn't really relevant to other christians but I don't disagree with much that's said in the bible though, I plan to read it cover to cover one of these days but it practises a lot of good stuff. There's a few versions, well a fair bit of versions of people who believe in the same god, muslims, jews, christians, catholics.. And a bunch of others as well, over and above all I believe in god. As someone pointed out though they're not actually praying to the saints either so that doesn't really contradict the holy book. I just don't care for an atheist who criticizes religion every chance he gets.. I'm not trying to be offensive either.

well go into a Catholic Church and they are PRAYING and KNEELING in front of statues if that's not against the bible that i dont know whats

theres the congregation......they just sit in benches, yes they kneel, they dont have a statue in front of them

show me a statue here...

if they were really serious like you think about statues, then each person would have a statue infront of them and would bow down to it...you're not even a christian i dont see how you can argue against us

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

Its really a result of the human tradition or ritual of honoring important people with statues... you know... like the manger underneath a Christmas tree...

People have an attachment to statues... like the statue of liberty, for instance..

statues can stands for something. an idea. sometimes..

The churches i frequent have many statues... and they look pretty cool. I used to picture them doing battle with the devil... lol

Something to think about while bored in church..

They might as well liven it up a bit... I honestly don't see any more blasphemy here than with any other sort of religion.... Everybody has there own things that get misinterpreted by other people, even people within the same faith.. lol

It's just crazy altogether. I think this is a good topic, maybe better if it were focused on the history of statues or 'Idols' in Religion. And their purpose, or 'intended purpose'

I'm sure there are other Religions out there that use symbols or statues.

Any Roman Catholic will tell you that the statues are symbols, much like anything else you'll find in the Church.. Candles, Stained Glass, Fish perhaps... It's all there in the history..

Much of it comes from persecution... Now it's celebration.. People have tried to build Churches that would reach God... Now we make them beautiful for God to see...

That's my take on it.. I have prayed to particular Saints for inspiration and courage.... but not to the statue of him/her.. lol

"People said his brain was infected by Devils..."

man i just ...its not wrong, we ....dont...aaahhhhh!!!

these are only symbols, we *dont worship the actual wood or stone*...check this out: miracles occur around these icons we kiss.
(from the coptic orthodox church)

heres a picture i took myself in an old church in cairo of a picture of virgin Mary crying:

you can see the smuges on the glass frame of people kissing it with their hands...its the same as the bible when we kiss it...its the same .....this shows that pictures are fine and can be holy. its ok to have visual representations of the saints and Jesus, etc to remind us of these events

....i guess i can see where you're coming from on the statues thing, but again,it is only a symbol....i dont think the orthodox uses statues anyways.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

sure we kiss the priest's hand......just as a sign of reverence....

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

if miracles occur around icons (assuming they're real), then iconography is fine!! its pure logic

ill agree w/ you on statues that its wrong, but icons are fine

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

lol thats hypocrisy man you ever heard of thet Statue of the Virgin Mary that cried ?? in Mexico i think it was come on man don't take me like that i got 70 year old gals kissing the priests cloth and kissing their icons even tough in their 70 year of living the icon didn't even farted come on man