[Hoi Polloi]

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This is what I was getting at earlier. It's pretty clear in the commandments that there should be no worship of other gods and no worship of false idols, yet the holy trinity, especially the part with mary, goes directly against this. Any thoughts?

(And that's just the tip of the iceberg, as you put it. When you get into the idea of the pope and a whole hierarchy of religious figures that are being worshipped, in a sense, things get even muddier.)

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The Pope, saints, Mary, etc. aren't worshipped by Catholics they are venerated. We understand their special place in developing the Church, but they aren't worshipped. There is one God we worship.

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Catholics pray to saints, yes? So, if there's only one god, is he listening to those prayers? Or does Mary hear them and take some action? If so, what's the deal with that? That's more than veneration, no? That says Mary is some kind of divine being, no? I mean she's dead, right? So, she's not human, but she hears and responds to prayers, so she's some kind of consciousness which is not human and has some standing with Jesus in heaven, no? So, like how's that not a goddess without like totally splitting hairs?

BTW, I'm cool with polytheism, I just think Catholicism (and Christianity generally) is not monotheistic except by fiat.

Also, after Jesus created the universe, and then like things didn't go so well, so he decided to send himself down to earth as a mortal and have himself be sacrificed to save mankind. Two things: wtf is that and why don't Catholics have sacrifices?

Thanks.