Religious question for Popcornbird

[Cincy'sMom]

That's a man's role, and as there have never been women popes or priests,

Not to change the topic of the thread, but just a point of history that is debated. Was there a female Pope?

Pope Joan?

[beeniesmom]

Not to change the topic of the thread, but just a point of history that is debated. Was there a female Pope?

Pope Joan?

NO< there has never been a female Pope and thier never should be according to the Catholic religion. I agree w/pcb: certain roles are for men and others are for women.

[VTJess03]

It seems to me that pretty much all spiritual doctrines claim that death will come to those who desert the 'true' faith, whatever it might be. The difference here is that the people practicing the religion are the ones that want to carry out God's justice for Him. To me, that seems like they are over-reaching a bit and taking on a bit more responsibility than God assigned them. I may be totally misinformed about Islam, but I thought that Allah was the all-powerful, all-knowing distributor of justice and wisdom, not the men who happen to worship Him.

Our destination after our life ends here is determined by our decisions, actions, beliefs, etc. I think that the one that converted will have more peace with the situation and the results than will the clerics calling for his demise. The convert (I'm sorry, I don't remember his name) is confident enough in his new faith to face death head-on, and the clerics of Islam that are calling for his death seem to me to feel threatened by the introduction of a new religion in 'their' country. If they are so confident in their understanding of Allah and what He would have them to do, why do they feel so threatened by one convert? Why not just let him go his own way (the wrong way, according to Islam) and suffer his own punishment in his own time?

I happen to practice Christianity, and am therefore most familiar with it; if you look at the big picture, Christianity teaches that all those who do not acknowledge Christ will go to an eternity of punishment in Hell (e.g. eternal death) while those who maintain purity of faith, motives, and action will inherit the eternal life in Heaven (obviously, since no one is perfect, we accept that Christ was the sacrificial atonement for the world's sins, and our mistakes will be covered by that sacrifice, etc. etc.) I have never thought about killing someone for converting to Islam from Christianity! I think that is ludicrous! God created men with free will; choice of religion is a free-will kind of choice.

We all think we are right, or we wouldn't think that way. We try to convince others that our way is right; that is how converts from or to any religion come about. Threatening death to someone is not the best way to change their mind, at least it doesn't seem that way to me.