REAL debate thread for RELIGION

[Rían]

And one more thing on the prayer to saints issue - I know that I ask my friends to pray for me, in addition to asking God Himself for help, so I can see that you might want to ask those that have died (knowing that they are indeed alive) to pray for you in the same way (and perhaps in some senses, a better way, because they aren't encumbered by sin anymore. But they can't keep you accountable, either, can they?!)

I came across this interesting section in G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy, where he was talking about democracy (in terms of different classes of people) and tradition:

But there is one thing that I have never from my youth up been able to understand. I have never been able to understand where people got the idea that democracy was in some way opposed to tradition. It is obvious that tradition is only democracy extended through time. .... Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our groom; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our father. ... The ancient Greeks voted by stones; these shall vote by tombstones. It is all quite regular and official, for most tombstones, like most ballot papers, are marked with a cross.

Interesting, isn't it?