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Complete PICLE corpus of essays by Polish advanced EFL students (330,000)
/^t/Catholicism is soaked in pagan beliefs and superstitions. Catholic dogmas worship blood sacrifice as such. Nobody would see the pyres with cattle being burned on them. No reverend would require his parishioner to kill his or her favorite pet in order to win God's grace. Nevertheless the scriptures ( catholic ones ) provide us with the examples of such bloody sacrifices that ancient gods would not be ashamed of. Every catholic is very likely to know that pious Abraham had to kill his own son in order to satisfy Jehovah. It was supposed to be the "confirmation" of Abraham's fidelity and faith. Does almighty need such a test in order to be sure of one's love? It is as if god required a lie detector test for every catholic. That is a ridiculous and pagan idea of those who were writing down the scriptures. Moreover, the fact that Abraham is looked up to and regarded the role model of a catholic is terrifying. Is the father willing to kill his own son worth such recognition? I think not. He should be condemned as the one misinterpreting the words of God. The other example is more important one. The way I am going to present it is tantamount to a refutation of the whole christian reasoning. The Jesus' father did the same thing. He sacrificed his own son in order to conquer the devil. It is not something we should be looking up to. I think it is cruel and immoral. That could have been easily digested by the people living in the Middle Ages. Nowadays, however, one reads it as a fairy tale. What about the symbol of crucifix and Jesus dying on it. I think that this torture device does not contribute to the spread of "catholic good news". Children looking at a naked, suffering men can develop everything like traumas, fears and disgust, but surely not love or optimism. The idea of a man being nailed to a piece of wood is sickening. When I come to think of it it is more like a pagan totem.