CMV: The Catholic Church is a cult.

Hello. I'm not out to bash Christianity, or any Christian beliefs, so please don't see this as an attack on your religion. I think we can all agree that there's a difference between a religion and a cult, and that distinction is what I want to argue against here.<br><br># Points to consider:<br><br>1. **Dress the part**: Dressing up, music, incense. The Church has many of these 'ritualistic' aspects, and when you think about it, they're all the same ways cult leaders work to break down their followers to the point where they can do, or believe, anything.<br><br>2. **A do it what I do, not do what I do argument**: The Church's stance on birth control has caused countless people, mostly in third world countries, to suffer and die of AIDS. This is also true of certain religions. However, the Pope, who seeks to make this disease-ridden countries have more children, **does not contract AIDS.** When talking of religious texts, the Church argues that "we don't have to follow that part of Leviticus because we don't follow *all* of Leviticus," but simultaneously argues that *all* of the New Testament is sacred, and must be followed. The Church also has a history of being very selective about what passages of the Bible to follow, taking them out of context, and ignoring many parts of the scripture. They know when to hold 'em, and how to fold 'em.<br><br>3. **Terrible record with children**: This one kind of speaks for itself. I won't go into details, but there have been several scandals about priests sexually abusing children, and the Church's record of hiding and silencing this abuse.<br><br>4. **High-ranking officials behaving like thieves**: The Church is not lacking in wealth, and neither are any of its high-ranking officials. One of the reasons we're supposed to donate to the Church is so they can help feed the poor. However, they don't use all of this money on charity, and the wealth of the Church, and of its highest officials, shows that.<br><br>5. **The wages of the priests are the Church's expense**: I was an altar boy, and the priests were given a eucharistic stipend for each mass, funeral, wedding, etc. they presided over. If you're an altar server, it is the Church's expense because the priests are paid, despite this being the Lord's work, in addition to their housing, food, health care, etc.<br><br>6. **Still a boys club**: The Church's stance on women, contraceptives, female priests, and many other feminist issues are not in line with the beliefs of many of the men and women that frequent the Church. The Church is mostly made up of men, mostly older men, who are stuck in their ways, and not willing to change. This has led to many women feeling unwelcome in the Church, as well as many of its own priests.<br><br>7. **Using money for the Church's gain**: The money paid by priests for the parishes in which they serve all goes to the Church, not to those parishes. The Church has also gotten quite wealthy off of baptisms and confirmations, as well as Catholic schools. Any money they raised the right way goes back into the Church, rather than to any charitable cause, including feeding the hungry, helping the environment, and providing shelter to the homeless.<br><br>Ok, there you have it. 7 different ways in which the modern Catholic Church, in its present form, seeks only to amass wealth, while running on the backs of those who believe that they're helping. Essentially, they're running a scam, where you're convinced they're the good guys.#####^This thread has been locked for breaking Rule 8 (Using the Subreddit to Harvest content for your own site/ newsletter/ etc).<br><br>Please do not message us to ask why you can't post in this thread.