Importance of Religion in Poland

Exactly how important is faith and religion in Poland? I know it depends on the person but what if it seems he projects that his faith means a lot, but if you are really paying attention, he is lost, confused and sad. Any thoughts?

Ask a Pole why they are Catholic, and not only Poles, and they will tell you that it's because they should be. No attempt at all at explaining what that means. Quite embarrassing really!!

As good Poles will tell you, the practising level here is very low.

why not is the one i'd use. :D :D


well, you know.. church is one thing, life another.

Exactly plk123, exactly. I couldn't have put it better. The realities of life, for some, may drive people to the church. I refuse to believe that people go to the church for a set of rules on various issues per se. It's more for a feeling of support and that God is with them. Why not I say? It's positive :)

lol.. italians are very much the same.. it's the american catholics that are way more conservative and serious about catholicism. it's really weird here.

They are the key words that are relevant to this thread, but you could remove the words "catholics", "about" and "catholicism". There - I thought it about time I made a crass generalisation about an entire country. It will be Belgium next time... on a Wednesday.

crass or not, it applies to many things here, yes.

Can you answer a similar sillinness: why are you still alive? If you give a reasonable answer, I will tell you why I am Catholic. :):):)


What is really embarassing is asking questions why somebody is Catholic. :):):)

Embarrassing especially to the Catholic asked, who doesn't know the answer.

WTF ? We are Catholic because that's our faith, what to explain here ??

Catholic identity and catholic faith are two very different things. Yet church attendances are steadily falling here, so perhaps in a few years the question of identity will have to be reappraised.

You have faith in something you can't define? We generally have faith in our abilities, in others, in our judgement etc etc.

What is the Catholic faith, Greg? Do you believe in open air?

And you are gonna tell me that the world may have a religious war in the future over something which is as abstract as you paint it. Come off it.

This really teases out the negative side of humanity. When you go to church, what do you feel Greg or pawian?

Switezianka is right, many here don't have a clue, they just latch on to what they believe they should believe, without believing in that belief, LOL

As a Christian and Catholic, I forgive you your disrespectful words, young lady. :):):):):):)


Oh la la! Today is the day of a series of brilliant revelations!!! :):):)


Yes. All religions are based on such presumption, aren`t they? To believe in sth undefinable... Can you define God? Can you describe God? No, you can`t. Yet, some people believe and that is the greatest thing in it.... :)


All these trivial things are well known to you so it is nothing special to believe in them. It is sth special to believe in inpalpable things beyond your recognition.


Seanus, you are visibly looking for clues in life...

Do you go to other forums and ask people: Why are you Buddhist?? What is Jewish faith? Why do you believe in Allah????


As far as I know, I am not going to any war. What`s your problem?


?


Go and try out for yourself! :):):)


Seanus, for the time being the most clueless person here is you. :):):)

Seanus and Switezianka, guys,

You are expecting answers about faith from other people, but it is in vain. Whatever is said, you will ignore or ridicule it. That is why nobody will tell you seriously. You certainly know the Biblical saying about pearls??

First of all, you must look for answers in your heart. :):):) If you cannot find them there, you won`t find them anywhere.

Is that clear?

Absolute nonsense. You have faith in God, so why not be a Protestant or some other Christian denomination?

Yes, I do ask people why they are as they are. It's called discussion, you might try it sometime. Without some reason, it's pure pie-in-the-sky guff.

Religion has caused so much suffering in this world. Stop being blind to this. For what? For something intangible and unproven? Hence my allusion to negativity.

I asked you about church. I went to church for years if you must know.

Pawian, don't take it personally, MANY others have been unable to stand up to scrutiny or say why they are Catholics. For me, they'd be as well be describing any Christian denomination.

What does your heart have to do with the Bible? I have great heart on many matters without reading a book.

Is that clear?

There are many religious people who actually can say why they follow this or that religion. This is how you can tell someone deeply religious and conscious of their choices from someone who blindly follows some rituals and repeats phrases they don't understand.


Have you ever talked to a Jehovah Witness? Each of them can give you a whole lecture on why they follow this faith.


That view is closer to agnostic than Catholic.
As far as description is concerned, most Christians describe God as merciful, almighty, just, all-knowing, full of love, wise etc.


There's no need - they willingly talk about it without asking.

Exactly Switezianka, exactly!! Hence the term 'devout' Catholic. There are screeds of literature on the net about Catholic values.

For a Catholic, for Catholicism and for Catholic education, values are our core business. This was taken from ad2000.com.au/articles/1999/sep1999p10_307.html

Let's see some Pawian. I'll spare you a deep discussion of the history of Catholicism. Values please

I would imagine that religion in Poland is intertwined with politics I believe that what it means to be religious is extremely difficult to disentwine from nationality. With respect to Catholicism it would be interesting to explore whether the particular brand of Christianity would have done more or less to reinforce polish nationalism in the long years of occupation.

The survival of the Polish identity from salons in France to seemingly meaningless individual acts of resistance is critical in this discussion. Without them the language and perhaps much else would have been lost. This perhaps would have left a legacy of we are catholic you are not therefore we are different and better.

The political power of religion cannot be underestimated it governs wealth creation and distribution.

Actually i was surprised that the most religious people i have met here see the difference between government and spirituality. I wish that'd happened in Ireland.

I also have found that Spiritual people dont give a hoot about others beliefs. Thats the way I like it.
The best way to convert people is to batter them and shout it really works!!

Amen.

The earplugs are in long before then :)

How did I know you would answer like that? :):)

I already told you in another thread but you wouldn`t listen. Too self-centred? :):):)


I have been discussing things with you quite long now, don`t you see I devote so much of my precious time to your posts? Do you really need more? So greedy for other people`s interest? :):):)


So what? Do I need to give up my religious beliefs because there were negative events connected with religion in the past? Is it foretold/ordained I will follow negative attitudes too?

Seanus, be resonable, for God`s sake ... :):):)


And you lost the way and look for directions.


Of course not. You, either. :)


I already told you in another thread but it is obvious you wouldn`t listen.


:):):) This self-appraisal of yours is really amazing.


And they tell you about it? :):):) They haven`t given up yet? :):):)
They must be people of great enduring faith.


Nobody`s perfect. :):):)


I cannot give a whole lecture. I have some limitations. That is why I am not a Witness, and am a modest Catholic boy instead.


Let it be so. Whatever you say. :):):)


Thanks for reminding me. :):):)


That`s good. There is no need for people to hide their convictions.

Maybe your answers lack thoroughness or convincing qualities.

No, I'm not attacking your right to pursue your faith at all, that wasn't it.

How did you know? My remarkable consistency ;)

Lost the way? I prefer to think of it 'I saw his way' and sought to find my own away from church.

A little self-appraisal never hurt anyone. Amazing, why thanks :)

Among Catholics there is many people who know little about Catholicism. Of course higher awareness would be great, however there is line that some cannot cross. How little people know about economy, while we don't demand books on this subject to be burned. I belong to those old-fashioned people whom prefer quality over number but I don't expect from average person to have knowledge equal to professor of economy.

As far as we talk about pure believe, there is little sense to discuss why you chose one over other. There is no scientific evidence to refer. That is why people mostly continue family traditions. However those smarter should raise above them and analyse sociological consequences of choosing certain denomination. I did this and I see the Catholic church to be the best guarantee of reason.

Good posting lesser. To know why you have opted for sth. Catholic values are sensibly motivated from what I've read but occupy too strong a position at times. They don't fully appreciate the complicated nature of things, instead they advocate a basic position.

Unfortunately, those smarter ones you allude to lesser often can't convince the sillier ones to broaden their thinking and see the bigger picture.

Society has been shaped by a maelstrom (is this Swedish? lol) of factors. Such a plethora like law, politics, social conditioning and just experience have a major influence on 'moving forward'

Why would they give up?

What a toasting Pawian took above :) :) :) Other than baptisms, I don't see too much evidence of the utmost importance of religion.

Don't be silly.

Well, he did. 'Don't be silly' is hardly convincing ;)

Lesser said it all!! There is much obfuscation. People can form harmonious family relationships without the Bible. They can form moral codes without it. Pawian just offered empty messages.

...or maybe rather there are lots of people who should be descreibed as "non-believer but practising".
My observations are that there is in fact quite a large number of people practising compared to their inside feelings - I mean their faith is often very shallow still they attend masses, take church weddings, baptise their children ("what would my grandma say if I didn't!") and are buried with the presence of a priest. It is more like a herding instinct than faith. If millions of people do it - there must be something in it, right?

And that reminds me of a certain slogan about flies: People! Eat s**t! - Billions of flies cannot be wrong.