tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8498149069472762986.post7113086340976768231..comments2023-10-22T04:50:28.588-07:00Comments on Life's Private Book: God, Prayer and Making a DifferenceDavid T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14828502773466162990noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8498149069472762986.post-78915732376099658432009-02-19T16:34:00.000-08:002009-02-19T16:34:00.000-08:00You are quite welcome David. You have an informati...You are quite welcome David. You have an informative and well researched blog, truly a pleasure to visit.<BR/><BR/>Modern versions of the Catholic Encyclopedia while having a built in bias are more balanced than previous years.<BR/><BR/>I can refer you to a U.S. Supreme Court legal brief on assisted suicide which we helped draft.<BR/><BR/>Brief of 36 Religious Organizations, Leaders, and Scholars as Amici Curiae in Support of Respondents, Vacco v. Quill, 521 U.S. 793 (1997) (No. 95-1858), and Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702 (No. 96-110)<BR/><BR/>The link on our site provides internal and external downloads of the brief in its entirety.<BR/><BR/>Brad Hoffstetter<BR/>Communications Division<BR/>Assembly of good Christians<BR/>http://www.cathar.netAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8498149069472762986.post-12979762611571377842009-02-18T17:01:00.000-08:002009-02-18T17:01:00.000-08:00Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog.I do...Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog.<BR/><BR/>I don't claim to be an expert on the Cathars. My information is limited to not much more than what is found in the Catholic Encyclopedia. I'll try to check out the references you gave at the end of your comment.<BR/><BR/>I do find the phrase "gnostic Christian" to be oxymoronic, and I am not sure that a religion that has no doctrinal objection to euthanasia and suicide, at least, can be Christian.<BR/><BR/>Cheers,<BR/>DavidDavid T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14828502773466162990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8498149069472762986.post-6961154306140503082009-02-17T16:13:00.000-08:002009-02-17T16:13:00.000-08:00Greetings! It would be more accurate to state that...Greetings! It would be more accurate to state that the medieval Cathars had no doctrinal objection to contraception, euthanasia or suicide. In the case of the latter two, these were rare voluntary acts by persons in near-death situations or those undertaken by extremely ascetic, but misguided persons decades after the medieval movement was almost exterminated. Independent scholars have found the practice was otherwise rare.<BR/><BR/>The term "Cathars" derives from the Greek word Katheroi and means "Pure Ones". They were a gnostic Christian sect that arose in the 11th century, an offshoot of a small surviving European gnostic community that emigrated to the Albigensian region in the south of France.The medieval Cathar movement flourished in the 12th century A.D. throughout Europe until its virtual extermination at the hands of the Inquisition in 1245.<BR/><BR/>There are an ever increasing number of historians and other academics engaged in serious Cathar studies. Interestingly, to date, the deeper they have dug, the more they have vindicated Cathar claims to represent a survival of the Earliest Christian Church.<BR/><BR/>Thank you!<BR/><BR/>Brad Hoffstetter<BR/>Communications Division<BR/>Assembly of good Christians<BR/>http://www.cathar.net<BR/><BR/>May we suggest the following scholarly sources:<BR/>1. http://www.hereticswithoutborders.org/<BR/>2. http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/<BR/>3. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html<BR/>4. http://www.languedoc-france.info/1212b_moreinfo.htmAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com