Pope announced a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria.
Francis is asking people to join him next weekend in a day of fasting for peace in Syria. Francis invited people of all faiths to join him Saturday evening in St. Peter’s Square to invoke the “gift” of peace for Syria, the rest of the Middle East and worldwide where there is conflict. Declaring “no more war,” Francis spoke to tens of thousands of people gathered in the square on Sunday. He says the “world needs to see gestures of peace and hear words of peace.” He says that only dialogue, and not armed intervention, can end Syria’s civil war. The five-hour-long prayer vigil in the square Saturday will last until midnight.
Mr. Pope, I believe you know very well that prayer and fasting do not work. Could you show any evidence of a successful prayer or fasting? I don’t think you will be able to show anything. Why don’t you cancel your stupid prayer program and try to motivate warmongers to stop war? You guys always fool around. For once, just stop it.
What a disgraceful mediocre pretend-response. Why can’t this lame-ass pretender do something his Church is actually good at, like pass around a collection plate to raise money for things like food, medicine, or other non-military material support?
I knew this guy was a joke as soon as I started hearing all the “man of the people” talk: his only selling-point is his ordinariness! He doesn’t ride a limo or wear fancy shoes — he rides a bus, doesn’t take sides, doesn’t try to be a hero, and caves to thugs and tyrants just like you and me. So let’s make him our supreme spiritual leader, while still clinging to the pretense that he’s just like all the people he’s supposed to lead and inspire.
Way to call Gandhi and Martin Luther King stupid.
If you can’t see the difference between Ganndhi, Martin Luther King and Frankie, I think it’s you that is stupid.
The bigger fail is criticizing instead of offering anything yourself! If you choose to not believe in prayer or a God who hears, respect the rights and opinions of those who do or you will find you have formed your own religion and named yourself as God.
Hey, at least Taslima and I are saying something COHERENT. That’s more than you can say.
I don’t know about our esteemed host, but for me, there’s no choice in it. I’m not capable of believing without evidence.
Got evidence that prayer works? There’s lots that it doesn’t…
Nobody is restricting (or suggesting to restrict) the right of people who believe in a God (or many Gods, for that matter) to call on them. I think most (I don’t know everyone so I will not say ‘all’) here would not want believers to have their right to pray and otherwise call on their god to be restricted.
However, there should also be no call to restrict the rights who say: “You know, I can see no evidence at all that says the set of Gods is non-empty, and there is no observable evidence that prayers to or requests of Gods have ever yielded results. Therefore, I think it is really stupid to do so.”
In short, believers have the right to proclaim faith, others have the right to describe those beliefs and associated calls as stupid.
Personally, I find this
an incredibly stupid statement. How would such a thing result? (That was rhetorical: please do not answer.)
shut up !! POPE ..and all the others too. Truly, they coudn’t be changing lanes. First when asked for repraisal .. vatican denied and now he asks all the people to fast for something that seem so irrevertible.
and didn’t they called paganism devil !!! #guess 1. Obeasity a great health isssue 2. SATYAGRAHA changed terms for paganism 3. no marines into Syria, New age war with HQ drones ..n the sleazy silent rockets onto the heights..$4$$ ..guess they might actually be hoping for peace to prevail afterall ..and within the next hundred years start to worship the fire may be…OMG i just imagined a zororastrian pope…CRAZY
But praying for peace in Syria is opposing god’s plan – after all, if god (who controls everything) didn’t want this war it wouldn’t be happening.
I don’t know. Prayer got them the biggest Church in the world lasting for nigh on 2000 years, and no-prayer got you a failed Gnu atheist and A+ movement lasting less than twenty years*, full of rapists and bullies. No prayer FTW!
(*you made it almost a hundredth as far without prayer. Don’t feel bad!)
“Prayer got them the biggest Church filled with priests who preyed on children, popes who protected them because the money brought in was more important than caring for the youngest, hospitals that let women die for lack of medically necessary abortion, hospitals that took children from “non-believers” and gave them to “good families”, and agreements with Hitler
Forgive me (sarcasm) for not wanting to be associated with that type of organization.
It wasn’t prayer that got them this far. It was the swords of Roman soldiers, the tithes of the poor, the threat of the death penalty etc.
Actually, fasting is one of the only kinds of Catholic ritual that *works*.
If you fast long enough, you die.
If you are risking your life in protest, people listen.
If you die for your cause – you may inspire others.
I’m not exactly sure what the Pope-super-guy should do, but prayer (public speech) and fasting (self-deprivation) seem to me like pretty valid non-violent means of protest. If everyone protested against war in non-violent ways, the world would be better off.
Of course at the same time I’m no expert on Syria – it seems to me that inaction has lead to a lot of violence that could have been stopped. But it’s anyone’s guess what approach is best now.
Popes have traditionally either been bullshit artists, or genuinely deluded. In my view this Pope is a Bullshit Artist, and the last two Popes were genuinely deluded by their religious convictions. Both cases are disgustingly inept, but at least the last two Popes weren’t aware of what they’re doing; according to Bill Maher this Pope very well could be an Atheist; there’s lots of solid speculation of that. If that’s true then this Pope is a Bullshit Artist par excellence, and should do productive things with the Church, like completely restructuring it to be more progressive, or finding some way to shut it down entirely…
This article’s contents are sickening and disgusting, praying for people does nothing and is in fact just an attempt to dissociate the suffering of others using religion so one can magically claim they’ve done moral good for others when in reality one has not. It’s a lot like ‘good intentions’ in the atheist world, but actually more damaging than that really.
Yet another nasty hateful anti-theist load of tripe! Start worrying about the sexual shenanigans of your de facto leadership of the anti-theist movement and leave peaceful Christians to pray of they wish. Better than preying for people to rape like your de facto leadership.
Prayer for Syria is just a bullshit nonresponse that doesn’t actually do anything for the people of Syria. How about asking Syrians what they need an helping get them that rather than sit around and mumble bs to a invisible floating asshat that clearly doesn’t give two shots about Syria. And before you red herring off talking about the sexual harassment an abuse in the non believer circles clean up house in your own abuse laden backyard. The red herring you’re trying to toss out that has nothing to do with the op is rotten and stinking already.
The laziest thing in the world that one can do is to prey. Thinking he has done a lot by actually just wasting time.
Prayers may not work for many, however, considering about 85% of world’s population has given in to or is born in to some belief or the other, it does for most. It at least absolves and pacifies the praying.
The fact that a high percentage of people believe something DOES NOT provide any evidence for the benefit of that that thing. Societal norms, familial pressure, gullibility, but not necessarily benefit.
All right I’ll change the last sentence to read as, “It at least absolves and pacifies some of those praying.”.
These “some of those” are the ones who are true believers, i.e., they have accepted without understanding.
Based on my understanding and experience that “Belief is a Placebo for conviction”, it does benefit them.
Note: Please look up Placebo, it does really work for some.
Note: please learn some statistics and basic science, then think about how stupid that is.
Hohum, and yet the war effort halted in its shoes. The evidence is right before your eyes, but most people seems to be blinded by preconceptions. A certain mr Putin was the one who responded to the prayer and it must certainly be annoying to some that he now appears to be a messenger of God. ROFLMAO
Taslima Nasreen,
Good for you; it take a lot of courage to speak out against religion which has been the most disastrous experiment in the human journey. If we are to survive the next hundred years with out horrific suffering it will only be because we evolved past the absurdity of religion. If the twentieth century doesn’t tell us what a problem this is, then nothing will. please don’t ever give up, it’s people like you who give us hope.