Transcript: Pope Francis’s homily at his final Mass of his historic trip to the United States

[Starboard Tack]

122. Tad OTT there my friend. "Whenever" is a big word.

Whenever someone opens their mouth to criticize the Pope you rush in to call them a bigot or an extremist, yammering on incessantly about all the good things he does despite his backwards attitudes. You may not directly defend his less-palatable decisions, but you overtly discredit those actively taking him to task, which is qualitatively no different.

I take the Pope and the RCC to task on many things. I've been doing it for over 50 years. We are not on a Vatican run website here, but a liberal Democratic one, even progressive at times. The folk I engage with here are not part of the RCC hierarchy, or Ron fucking Paul. They are supposedly liberal progressives. I try to be nice to everyone, especially BMUS, whom I adore for her diligence and support. And she does it for free.
I'm sorry if it offends people, but I espouse tolerance, not bigotry. I get called all kinds of names by those you mentioned, but that doesn't mean I'm going to change who I am. I love people. I may hate their ideas on certain things, but I still love them. Even the Pope. If you'd told me 30 years ago I would say something like that, I would have thought you crazy.

We should speak out on all issues that we care about, be it with Ron Paul, Pope Francis or trotsky and his friends. But we don't have to be mean spirited about it. I don't think bigots are necessarily bad people, they are just ignorant and need to be called on their bigotry. I have made remarks here which some have used over and over, in an attempt to paint me as a bigot. Some have bought into that characterization, for whatever reason. Doesn't bother me. I'm comfortable with who I am and the path I'm on. I'm not here looking for friends or support, or to defend myself. I'm just here to participate and throw in my 2 cents worth.

If I have a message, then it is about tolerance and humility. My experience here on DU has been enlightening, to say the least. I was accustomed to discussing religion and politics with evangelicals and conservatives. I thought coming here would be boring, like preaching to the choir, what would be the point? After all, we're all on the same side, right? Boy, was I surprised. First thing I did was join A&A, find some kindred spirits, so to speak. Right, well we all know how that went down. And I joined the Gungeon, thinking "Yeah, this could be a good place to debate some NRA freaks" - more the kind of conversation I was used to having with political opponents. It was fun for a while, then it became the same old arguments, over and over. So, I only go there occasionally now.

I came here because I saw that a small group of anti-theists were behaving like bullies, trying to dominate every conversation with personal insults. And some of them are still at it. And, shame on me, I would occasionally rise to the bait.

I am totally opposed to the position of the RCC and Francis on same sex marriage, contraception and LGBT rights, but I give Francis credit for speaking out on the environment, immigration, the death penalty, consumerism, the disparity between rich and poor, Cuba and many other things. And his car.