The Logical Atheist

A Catholic priest had to resign after it was learned that over his 20-years as a priest, he had baptized thousands of people in Arizona and California incorrectly . It seems he said, "We baptize," instead of, "I baptize" (speaking on behalf of Jesus). Apparently God (or one of the Trinity) is very picky about this. A church authority said "we" is wrong because it's not the community that baptizes. But couldn't the church just let it slide and explain that the priest was merely using the royal "we" on behalf of Jesus? Thankfully, in 2007 the Vatican abolished limbo, that place between heaven and hell for unbaptized babies. So the children who were incorrectly baptized, if they don't get a real baptism, might still get into heaven. Thank God.

Baptism is far older than Christianity -- than Judaism. The Hindus, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans had Holy Water long before a Catholic lived. The eucharist was borrowed from the Pagans. Ceres was the goddess of the fields -- Bacchus of the vine. At the harvest festival they made cakes of wheat and said: "This is the flesh of the goddess." They drank wine and cried: "This is the blood of our god."  The Egyptians had a Trinity. They worshiped Osiris, Isis and Horus, thousands of years before the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were known.  The Tree of Life grew in India, in China, and among the Aztecs, long before the Garden of Eden was planted. Long before our Bible was known, other nations had their sacred books.  The dogmas of the Fall of Man, the Atonement and Salvation by Faith, are far older than our religion. In our blessed gospel, -- in our "divine scheme," -- there is nothing new -- nothing original. All old -- all borrowed, pieced and patched. --Robert...