I don't have the answer to your question about fractions, Marlon. I recently agreed with George that even Papa Ratzi is a cafeteria Catholic at some level.
I believe practicing Catholics unconsciously use the standards of "on balance" and "baby and bathwater", and use the tenets of the Church and a belief in the existence of a "higher being" as a concept that may help keep them generally on the straight and narrow. I'm sure this would apply to practitioners of other religions as well. I wish I could remember the name of a famous Brit philosopher, a lifelong proactive atheist, who turned 80 recently, who was moved to publicly announce that he had finally concluded that there was a "higher being" because he could find no other explanation for what existed before the "big bang". Finally, I'll share a comment made by my exasperated Catechism teacher in high school many moons ago when he had had it with our questions on the existence of God, etc. when he said, "If there is NO God then we believers have just wasted a lot of time and money in this world, gladly in most cases because it did give some of us a sense of purpose and peace. However, if there IS a God, you non-believers are in for a whole lot of grief." Of course, this was before Vatican II after which believers and non-believers alike are now deemed to have a "Get into heaven pass". --- Marlon Menezes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This is exactly the point I am trying to make. What > fraction of the self proclaimed "true catholics" > actually practice or believe in all the tenants of > their religion. Heck, what fraction of the clergy do > the same? (I am assuming that child molestation is > not > one of required tasks of the clergy!) > > Marlon >
