By the way I had heard the thoughts on Jesus being Buddha which are clearly incorrect. Buddha was all about the  enlightenment. Jesus was here to do his father's bidness. Nothing more, nothing less. The son of God wouldn't want to sit around and enlighten us when he was trying to  save of from impending doom.

 No doubt he was a bad ass, but geez dood, look at the stuborn Israelites, the red sea, manna , miracle after miracle and they STILL   melted gold down to make  dead idols, because Moses was busy and couldn't feed them hind teet, geez , I can see them now" what are we going to do oh gosh oh no what are we going to do, Moses left and now  we don't know what to  do what to do. C'mon God was teaching them to trust ONLY in him and they knew it. Why did  they only get enough manna for each day? DUH!  Trust in him daily, but finally they did and they saw the promised land, so yeah bass ass God, bad ass stubborn people. And as a whole we are STILL like that! God wants to break out will to do wrongful things, not our spirit.

  Matt, when I was working the yard sale/recycle drive at The Empty Space a couple months back, a woman who came in passed around some Chick pamphlets to us after she made her purchase. They're horrible, but laughingly outrageous (though that Harry Potter one is even better!) Maybe I can scan it!

 I was referring to the number of strong similarities in the story of the Buddha and the story of Jesus and their teachings and the strong dissimilarities between Jesus and the Old Testament God.  Vengeful bad-ass the OT God was.  Google it, its not hard to find information on. 

 Chase Jesus was around  during the creation of the universe ( in fact  he had a big hand in creation. (in the beginning was the word?  um that is Jesus) I don't think he was a Buddhist.

SammG You are right it was a bit Cheesy, but obviously it made and impression on Matt, he went and found one, didn't he ;)

 MATT! THAT IS CREEPY!

 Chase it's tends to be legalism and  i think the  Crusades sewed something that the rest of the Christian world not maybe reaping with terrorism, that's just a side bar to this all. But  yes it's the same "idea" not indeed these days with the Catholic church.

well back to work., I was only able to read up to chases comments. I love the pope by the way. I don't agree with the church nor  the popethough.

 Some classic Chick publications literature - strange stuff, man...

 Matt, those Chick publications are awful when you think about the fact that people actually took them seriously, but I honestly think they're absolutely hysterical... I can't imagine people reading them and thinking "yes, that's right!" because they are SO over-the-top ridiculous and cheesy. Crazy!

 I'm not Catholic but I know that Catholic priest don't earn a lot of money. My dad is an retired Episcopal priest and it wasn't till all the kids were out of the house that he and my mom could afford to by a house. In fact I found out years latter that we were on food stamps when I was a kid because Episcopal priest did not make a lot of money. The cool thing about my mom and dad is I never knew we were poor until years latter because they never made it a big deal. I think parents were different back then. Getting back on topic most priest and ministers of traditional churches like Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodists etc don't get rich.

 Jesus was a Buddhist! 

But anyway... Joe, how is it 'almost as bad as the Muslims saying it' if it is the exact same idea (the idea being the same, not the actions that some take up because of it).  Mmmmm.... Christianity - now in 33,820 flavors!

I'm not religious at all. I'm just going from what the bible says not what i feel, cause i feel all religions are stupid. they are hypocritical and the pastors & preachers take money from people, i get donations are for the church and for them to eat, but when a preacher has a better can then me, that pisses me off. They didn't write the bible but therefor they make a huge profit off of it, Jesus didn't get paid to preach neither should they. ..... .. that's why i do not like them (all of them) Do u remember the story when jesus got mad and over turned the tables? i think he would not approve of it

 Annie, you sound so "Christian." ;-)

Here we go again, I suddenly had flashback from my teenage years of Catholic harrassment..

You obviously don't know the Catholic faith, and where does the pope claim to be perfect? Acts of respect like bowing, don't mean they're worshipping him. Geez...Take it from me, I've been raised in the church, and we never act towards non-Catholics the way they act towards us. At least I don't...

When I was a teenager, I used to get invited to my "friends" churches (protestant, Assemblies of God,) all the time, so I would go. I enjoyed the sermons and kid club type stuff, as I did at my own church.

Then, I had to go through the constant barrage of hate against my church from the very people who were supposed to be God loving people. The sermons always had to include a, "Those Catholics, they do this and that, and even my own friends around me trying to put me down." That's pretty messed up as a kid. Well, the minute I asked them if they would go to my church to find out what's really happening, they said no - it was against their religion." LOL! Right...

We can't forget all the classic "Chick Publications" that are some of the most hateful pieces of literature I've ever read - complete with a "save yourself" How-to, page in the back.

This was in 1984 - According to them the world was supposed to end and the Pope was the anti-christ. LOL...Oh man, the late Pope John Paul, was supposed to be the last pope and the "tribulation" was supposed to happen. Well, we're still here!

Then Jimmy Swaggart, Oral Roberts, all those dudes went berzerk with all their $$$$ hungry woes, and hoes.

I don't knock other churches, but calling the pope stupid isn't very fair Annie. Sure we have our faults but doesn't everybody?

Take it from the man upstairs...

“Love One Another, As I Have Loved You”
Luke 22:1-38; John 13

 The pope is stupid. i think he is ridiculous. No one is better than another, no one is closer to god than another, everyone has to go thru Jesus (in prayer) to talk to god. It says so in the bible.  Jesus said not to worship men & worship idols and the catholic religion ignores that completely. You might be catholic that's your right, but i think its stupid and that's my right. =D

 Hey don't forget Bernard Law who is now comfortably serving the pope at the Vatican.

I love the history Chanel and the specials they have on the Catholic church.......The history of the church is fascinating. A lot of people died in the name of God.

 Sadly the pope also teaches that the only church going to heaven is the catholic church. No others will go. That's almost as bad as  Muslims saying the same thing , at least  the protestants  say the catholics will go to heaven if they accept Jesus, as they do. And yes Matt Jesus is the way. I don't think i'd get too excited to see the pope , no more than  if he was anyone else. He's not my father nor my spiritual father that's God's job,  the pope nor any other  preist interceed for me  to send my prayers to God, only Jesus does that for me. I would ask him if i had the chance, um hey Benedict, so tell me, you knew about all those   german catholics being hiddden during Neurburg huh ;) gotcha oh  and to mention your main doods  on all the  priest child molestations o'maley, mahoney etc right;)

 You can add my name to the list.  Is he Jesus Christ?  No, and I don't even agree with lots of Catholic doctrine, but you won't find me among the Sinead O'Conners of the world.  Nope, I'm not even Catholic, but I work with some great Catholics who, years ago, took me under their wings as a writer for their Catholic magazine.  I'm not sure I'd camp out overnight, but, yes, I'd see him if he walked "The Streets of Bakersfield."  In short, the pope is dope!

 I wouldn't camp out, but I would be interested in seeing him. The Pope is a significant spiritual leader and political figure, and that's reason enough for me. I don't necessarily agree with what he represents but I can still acknowledge his role in our society :)

 I agree with Matt, I would totally camp out to see the Pope.

Sure I would, and not just because I'm Catholic (and Latino, thank you very much!)

The Pope's a cool dude, and ain't hurting anybody.

He's the leader of the Catholic church, and like a President or other world leader, carries a lot of weight on his shoulders.

If people act the way they do towards another human, then that's their own choice. The Pope always preaches Jesus as the way.