thread: 2006-08-31 : I think my expectations are screwed
On 2006-09-01, Jim Zoetewey wrote:
Joel:
I'm not an expert on Roman Catholic views, but Vatican II did encourage some level of respect for other religions and the Roman Catholic church has encouraged dialog with other religions. I'm not suggesting that they encourage religious pluralism. They don't, but they are more involved in interfaith dialogs than many churches in my area.
Brand and Vincent:
For what it's worth, my observation has been that the more power the religious group has in society as a whole, the more messed up things can get inside the group. By contrast, when you're part of a small group of outsiders, people tend to sublimate their ambitions for the sake of the group a little more.
In my hometown, a large percentage of people came from either my denomination or the denomination we split from in the late 1800's. There was still some tension left about that when I was growing up (1970's-1980's).
Amusingly, once outside Western Michigan, people from both groups find that they have a lot more in common than that which divides them.
It's not exactly the same, but it sounds similar to me (but I may be missing a lot...).
