Gay/French/Catholic singularity megathread

[Eddie Teach]

And stop using the fuckin singularity for EVERYTHING.
Fuck man, educate yourself in what the Singularity is.
Its not that fuckin hard!

The Singularity is everything. Much like God, or the Universe.

[Valmy]

I'm used to Quebec were most people don't practice their religion.  I guess it's different elsewhere.

No I am pretty sure the entire rest of the world is exactly like Quebec.

But you don't have any Catholics in name only in Quebec?

[Martinus]

I am wondering what the difference between "Catholics in name only" and "people who do not practice their own religion" is, by the way.

Incidentally, a situation like this is even more pronounced in countries like Poland, Italy or Ireland than in the US - since so many people are raised Catholic and participate in all "rite of passage" rituals in the Catholic church (birth = baptism; puberty = first communion; adulthood = confirmation; marriage; funeral) it is fairly common for someone to go to church and consider themselves Catholic while not following any of the tenets.

[Valmy]

You have to ask Viper. I was just joking around about him being Catholic as a Frenchmen. Since so many of them go through the motions for cultural reasons. Then Viper started bringing up theological and ethical questions as if the overwhelming majority of French Catholics worry about that shit. Nobody in Quebec does this it seems.

[Eddie Teach]

Incidentally, a situation like this is even more pronounced in countries like Poland, Italy or Ireland than in the US - since so many people are raised Catholic and participate in all "rite of passage" rituals in the Catholic church (birth = baptism; puberty = first communion; adulthood = confirmation; marriage; funeral) it is fairly common for someone to go to church and consider themselves Catholic while not following any of the tenets.

There are plenty of Protestants who don't agree with the tenets of their church as well. The ones who stop considering themselves Christian generally stop going to church.

[Valmy]

There are plenty of Protestants who don't agree with the tenets of their church as well.

Yep. And they justify themselves loudly on my Facebook. Man how annoying.

[Martinus]

Incidentally, a situation like this is even more pronounced in countries like Poland, Italy or Ireland than in the US - since so many people are raised Catholic and participate in all "rite of passage" rituals in the Catholic church (birth = baptism; puberty = first communion; adulthood = confirmation; marriage; funeral) it is fairly common for someone to go to church and consider themselves Catholic while not following any of the tenets.

There are plenty of Protestants who don't agree with the tenets of their church as well. The ones who stop considering themselves Christian generally stop going to church.

Yeah and this is the difference I am talking about - in countries like Poland people continue going to the church and later bitch about stupid priests. Even more secular ones, who do not go to church each Sunday, tend to go on more important holidays (in addition to the said weddings, funerals, baptisms etc.).

In bigger cities, people also tend to practice "churching", i.e. attending the mass not in the church of their own parish, but in some nearby church where masses are more to their liking (e.g. because the priest is more liberal, or the mass is in Latin or whatnot).

I also assume that in the US people who feel more strongly about their spirituality but disagree with the denomination of their "birth" are more likely to convert to another Christian denomination - something like this is virtually unheard of in Poland.

Edit: Sorry, I misread your post. On the other hand there are also a lot of people in Poland who consider themselves Catholic but only go to Church like 3-4 times a year.

[Martinus]

Catholicism in Poland is also more "invasive" - i.e. it tends to show up in your life even if you do not go to church.

For example, at least once a year (usually during the post-Christmas period) priests go on a tour of all homes in their parish (mainly to collect some donations). During that time they bless the house, say a prayer, give pictures of saints to kids etc. Again, this is more loose in big cities (you have to sign up each year in advance to have a priest come with a visit) but in smaller towns and villages priests have full data bases of all parishers and they show up whether invited or not and sometimes even set "minimum donations" for the "church roof" and the like.

Another example are religion lessons which are compulsory at school and are taught very frequently by a priest or a nun - you can instead opt out to have "ethics" lessons but this brands you as a heretic/atheist/infidel (and in some smaller schools the lessons are taught by the same priest/nun as the religion lessons ). Poland actually lost a ECHR case because of this some time ago.

[Valmy]

Woah ok that would be funny if they tried that in France. Well they probably do for some of the regions.

The family I stayed with in 1997 was very Catholic. Prayers before meals, no meat on Fridays, Saints days recognized and all that shit. I found it curious until I saw they their family was from the Vendee and they had all this stuff romanticizing the Catholic and Royal Army their ancestors fought in. Raz would have liked them.

[Martinus]

Yeah, I wish we had the same approach to religion as France.

[Martinus]

Speaking of which, I signed up for a course at Institute Francais and tomorrow I am starting my French lessons (haven't actively studied French for 20 years). Wish me luck.

The course is intermediate by the way (it was decided in a test - I was surprised how much of French I remembered after all these years).

[Valmy]

Speaking of which, I signed up for a course at Institute Francais and tomorrow I am starting my French lessons (haven't actively studied French for 20 years). Wish me luck.

Bon courage mon ami!

[Martinus]

Also, I graduated from high school 20 years ago. I'm old. 

[Valmy]

Also, I graduated from high school 20 years ago. I'm old. 

Me to!

And...me to I am noticing myself working out with extra effort these days. Like I am thinking this is my last chance to look youngish and hottish

Stupid midlife crisis.

[Martinus]

I need to start taking hormones soon, so I don't grow old too fast.