VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|Dinah|DATE|1379239805|CONTENT|‘That is not the Church I belong to today’ (Catherine Pepinster)

How often have we heard that one before?  I would guess that Church still exists in many places on this planet.

The Pope’s comment about atheists getting into heaven may be refreshing in its lack of bigotry, but rather undermines Catherine’s suggestion that there is an underlying, unchanging ‘truth’ behind her religion.  The real truths are that religions are man-made, and change according to culture, politics, geography, historical and contemporary pressures.  The ‘heretic’ of yesterday becomes the Saint of today, and ideas like Hell and Damnation and who will or won’t get into heaven go in and out of fashion.  The more powerful a religion becomes, the more unpleasant its manifestations, as can be seen in the rise and rise of Islam today, but was equally true of Christianity in the past.
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