Quote Originally Posted by icey View Post
and in every case in history its shown that the church reigned over both money and politics and even ruled the monarchs.

regarding the laws in Ireland until the late 1970's which isnt all that long ago, who decreed contraception was wrong and made sure it was illegal all those years? the catholic church.
luckily religion doesnt have quite the same power in politics now but it still has a hell of a lot of sway and my guess is it always will do.
It will, as long as people are willing to pay their hard earned money to support a church which is very reluctant to give it back. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Catholic churches around the world which are struggling to keep their heads above water, with priests who are truly concerned about the welfare of their parishioners. Yet the Vatican, the Catholic Church, is one of the wealthiest entities on the planet. And that is where they get their power from.

If the people would insist that their donations to the church STAY with their church, and not go to line the cassocks of every red hat in Rome, they would be a lot better off, and so would the rest of the world.