A Conversation with James Carroll

[jjschu50]

Very insightful to those who are true to themselves.

[basiunia33]

First of all, he conflicts Christianity with Catholicism. Living in Europe I can tell you that Catholicism might be dying down, but Christianity certainly ISN'T.

Just because PEOPLE twist Christianity, doesn't mean that the faith in and of itself is flawed. Quite the opposite. Extremism and fundamentalism is man's way of gaining control over others. This happens in all religions. But religion itself is not at fault here. People distort God's love to suit their own selfishness and then blame Him

[The888777]

....oh , so james carroll and jim carrroll are two different people ?

[Blaze1145172]

8a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

[TamarZucker]

NO It is a different Jim Carroll. This is not the Jim Carroll of Basketball Diaries although Jim did go to Trinity, a well known Catholic Boys School, in NYC.

[TRULYMORTAL]

I just watched Constantine's Sword. It was very thought provoking as well as informative. However I feel that his journey is still somewhat incomplete. I really wish that James Carroll would broaden his definition as to what constitutes a Christian. I would suggest to him at this point to reasearch Christians being persecuted as Jews through history. I was happy that he mentioned the fact that Christianity did not change overnight.

[wandaweste]

After reading the comments, it's no wonder religion is dying and people are reaching out for different avenues. The truth hurts, ignorance is bliss. I thought what he had to say was rational. Terrorisim comes in all forms, even Christianity.

[GoinDownToJunkieTown]

"to say religion has no reason to exist is the same as saying people have no reason to exist" - who the fuck is this bullshitting mental cunt?! i was looking for the real jim carroll, the poet and author. not this dickhead

[Roisenbud]

Praising a Godless Europe, they will all be a Muslim continent by 2050!!!

Uninteresting at best.

[GodServant1000]

Well...for christians to think like ...Their Son of God was killed by jews...they have to ACCEPT it as Jesus said...May be they have to accept and be Submissive to jews..So jews can Kill him again and again. Psychologically christians must become Slave for Jews! thats the whole POINT of this FAKE story!

[GodServant1000]

James Caroll I think you are not taking the whole picture there..What do you call the Crusade Compaign in Holy land? They fought muslims till became tired of it Now jews are replacing them...Don't you see they are Complementary in sometimes and more cooperative than you think?

[MrSimonGirty]

I wonder if he has ever heard of Bosnia??

[BucktheCanuck]

"In a culture that walked away from institutional religion"....well I don't mean to rain on his parade but Europeans didn't repudiate violence at all..On the contrary they were very happy to live with it in their own backyard while thousands were slaughtered. They were very happy to live with the Saddam's genocidal regime in place or have their own soldiers followed by nearly a million innocent Rewandans hacked to death.

What he sees as the moral high ground I see as the cowardly sidelines.

[RPenta]

Do you condemn the United States of America for the genocidal war it waged for decades against the Native American people of this continent?

Do you condemn the United States of America for perpetuating black slavery on this continent?

Do you condemn the United States of America for launching imperialist wars in Central America, Cuba, the Phillipines and Haiti?

How about we stop there--by the way, as bad as our guy Sadam was, he did not commit genocide.

The Bushes man Adolf Hitler tried to.

[laichic]

this video is misleading and he is puting all religions in the same basket the eastern orthodox church has never commited crimes against humanity james carrol is probaly a mason who for hundreds of years have worked to get rid of the true church by puting crimes catholic and protestants did on all christians show me what the eastern orthodox teachings and the orthodox have been around from the begining and has not changed

[hypatience]

I'm a fan of both of the Jims.

[irendelle]

Why do I hear most nominal Christians ALWAYS preach come to Christ, ACCEPT to Christ rather than FOLLOW Christ? Why? Is it bcos the latter is harder to follow? And whereas Christ is THE way they mock Him by NOT following His teachings one of which is loving one's enemies, forgive their debtors, and turn the other cheek? And why is it that there are many, although non-Christians that are applying Christian principles more than Christians do?

[irendelle]

Which of the two groups do you think is MORE pleasing and acceptable in the eyes of Christ---He who is, btw, rejected and accused a blasphemer by the religious leaders of His day? Read Mt. 7:21 ff; 21:28-32 and esp. Mt. 8:11-12.

[irendelle]

Beautiful Dialogue! Excellent Conversation! Bravo!

[Trudeau790]

An American Requiem. On of the most beautiful memoirs I have ever read. Carroll writes with such humanity and love.

[informaticist]

James Carroll has an excellent ability to examine people and events, his compassion & empathy are profoundly reassuring. I agree that the default state of 'human nature' is good. While he did not say this explicitly in this video, that is what I heard

[budfroosa]

I love you James Carroll! I hear you. You can say EXACTLY what I feel/know. Thank you.

[LeoLover2727]

I thought Jim Carroll is an ex-drug addict....he grew up on the mean streets of N.Y.C.---i dont remember him ever being a priest. Has anyone ever read the book The Basketball Diaries (or seen the movie) Its his autobiography about his teenage years...drug abuse, alcohol, rape, sex..and so on...he realized he need to get clean and is now an author, poet, and musician writing about his childhood and the terrifying things he experienced.. is this that same guy?

[trinitywallstreet]

Different guy.

[caligula52]

no totally different person

[evianalmighty]

Europe found peace by having a christian nation protect them.  Now Europe is heading for civil war. Brought to them by the false religion of islam.

[MINDCRIME73]

these people are flat out evil, the devils work!

[caligula52]

True believing Christians don't blame Jews for putting Christ on the cross. They blame themselves and their own sin. That doesn't mean there aren't people out there like James Carroll who somehow become priests without ever comprehending that. But that does not make Christ or his church wrong that make James Carroll wrong. Sorry, but that's the way it is.

[theshininggenji]

I'm agnostic but I can respect this guy.

[fatesaccomplice]

Waste of time. Begin by showing evidence of a god. The whole argument is useless without that.

[luxlucis777]

Argument? This isn't an argument, it's a point of view. If you disagree so be it, but Christians are not here to "prove" anything to you or anyone else who just wants to sit in judgment. God proves Himself.

[fatesaccomplice]

god only proves himself to you. I need evidence. Both you and god are useless to me in a discussion about the existence of god.

And, my point of view is that both me and Thor, blessed be his hammer, will make you watch furry videos in the afterlife.

Hail Satan

[luxlucis777]

Acknowledge that you're a sinner who sins in everything you do, in thought word and deed, in what you do and what you fail to do. You've broken God's laws. You're in need of a Saviour from the just and perfect judgment of a holy God. Otherwise you can look forward to spending eternity in a Christless hell of your own choosing. Accept Jesus Christ's sacrificial death for you and your sins.

You want evidence? Begin there. Come to Him in faith and He will not turn you away.

[fatesaccomplice]

Nope. god says I'm a sinner, I'm a sinner because god says I'm a sinner. That doesn't fly. You need to support your idea that god exists in the first place. Remember, if this is based entirely on your strong feeling on the matter, it's just as likely that the Muslims, Scientologists, or Odinists are right. I'm sure they feel just as strongly as you, if not more so. This week I'm into Cthullu.

Hail Cthullu.

(off to dash some baby heads off rocks)

[luxlucis777]

I don't need to support anything, because truth is truth, regardless of what we may feel, think or believe (which are all notoriously unreliable). You might gather from my last sentence that this has nothing to do with my "strong feeling on the matter"; that is secondary. People who rape and kill do these things from a sense of being "correct" in what they do. The flavor of the week is inherently wrong.

Come to Christ. He is no movie of the week...He is Truth.

[luxlucis777]

Besides, Muslims, Scientologists, Odinists and Cthullu can't offer you forgiveness, unconditional love, hope, meaning, answers and eternal life. Only Jesus Christ offers these things.

[AmishMarine1]

But you have no evidence he can deliver, and Krishna also offers those things... So does Muhammed.

[luxlucis777]

Romans 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

[luxlucis777]

Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

[luxlucis777]

Romans 1:28 Furthermore since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, Godhaters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

[luxlucis777]

Romans 1:32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

[caligula52]

If you need evidence or demand that God proves his existence to you, don't waste your time with Christianity because it's a religion of faith. God is not a genie in a bottle, if you want to be saved you must serve God and prove yourself to him not the other way around.

[iicei]

More wars and killing have been committed over religion than any other reason. Religion has not worked in solving man kinds problems. It has only been around for thousands of years and things are NOT getting any better. All religions do not work.

[district5rookie]

you're all idiots

[Zarabbas]

James Carroll's views are very ignorant and intentionally misleading.

Without religion, mankind will still fight wars.

It is the childish view that religion is the cause of wars. A more mature person would be able to recognize that religion is manipulated by self-serving individuals who dont believe in God, to obtain their material desires.

James Carroll is a fool who attacks Christianity, backed by Jewish organizations that are also Anti-Christian.

This all serves the Antichrist.

[ljrossbach]

I read the book and watched the documentary. I don't feel he is ignorant or misleading and he isn't attacking Christianity at all.  He refers to himself as a Christian repeatedly.

[Zarabbas]

He does attack Christianity by placin a misbegotten label against the Church by calling it "Anti-Semitic".

He blames the Gospels for this YET! in rabbinical literature (Talmud etc.) the Jews take credit for killing Jesus and they dont even include the Romans in their version of events.

Is rabbinical literature "anti-Semitic" for including their role? NO, and neither is the New Testament.

But if "Yes" then the same applies to the Talmud and post Talmudic lit.

Dont be a hypocrite.

[AGDIRGIA]

@ljrossbach His argument is incredibly ignorant. In fact, I would say absurd. He completely ignores accounts written before the Gospels (the Epistles, for example) that attest to the historicity of the Gospel accounts. In the Epistles of Paul, he says that hundreds of people saw Christ after the Resurrection, and that was written within 10 years of the Crucifixion. There are also other examples. As for the antisemitism of the Church, that is true, we do need to face that and apologize.

[ACIMStudyGroup]

It is Christian mis-interpretations of what Jesus taught and what the crucifixion really meant has been the cause of much violence. Just because a majority of people may believe  something doesn't make it true.

Jesus and God are about love ... not attack and war.

[Zarabbas]

ACIM...you said "Just because a majority of people may believe something doesnt make it true"

You are correct, and for that reason you are wrong.

[QwidgyboMan]

Well said Zarabbas. Why on earth does religeon get the blame for the errors and sins of men?

[munjjja]

posts like yours are exactly what Carroll is trying to move away from. look at the mans life. The last thing he is doing is spouting propaganda for an Anti-Christian Jewish organization. He is a person who think for himself and does what he believes and what he wants. He's dealt quite a bit with satanists, with Jews, homosexuals, Christians. He went to catholic school as a kid and his parents were both intense catholics. what he is suggesting is take what you will from it and thats what othersdo

[ljrossbach]

I liked this interview. I think James Carroll is brilliant!

[AntEyeTheist]

Answers: Top five reasons for losing your religion:

5. Total reliance on reason alone, instead of reason informed by faith.

Answer: Faith is a belief in something you know isn't true.

4. Total reliance on money and pleasure.

Answer: You mean greed, the root of all evil.

3. Being hurt by a priest/nun/clergy and generalizing that one incident to the whole religious populace.

Answer: One incident! Are you kidding! History lesson?

[AntEyeTheist]

2. Giving into secularist propaganda.

Answer: A secularist has little motivation to produce propaganda; on the other hand, the religious and their religions, are highly motivated, by greed, the root of all evil.

1. Seeing oneself as God, and replacing religion with worship of oneself.

Answer: Worship nothing, love and respect everything that is good, including yourself.

The world is my country and to do good is my religion.

Thomas Paine

[chrisman737]

Top five reasons for losing your religion:

5. Total reliance on reason alone, instead of reason informed by faith.

4.  Total reliance on money and pleasure.

3. Being hurt by a priest/nun/clergy and generalizing that one incident to the whole religious populace.

2. Giving into secularist propaganda.

1. Seeing oneself as God, and replacing religion with worship of oneself.

[AntEyeTheist]

The Top Ten Reasons for Losing Your Religion.

10. All religions are antiquated and primitive.

9. Religions are man-made.

8. Science, reason and logic are damaging to religion's credibility.

7.The promise of posthumous life can lead to the devaluation of life.

[AntEyeTheist]

6. Religions are most often used to repress and control people, which can lead to psychological instability.

5. Religions are a waste of time and effort.

4. Religions sometimes promote inhumanity and immorality.

3. Religions stall progress and knowledge.

2. Millions upon millions of people have died in the name of religion.

1. Religions hold us back as a species.

MW 6.17.2007

[AntEyeTheist]

The Top Ten Reasons for Losing Your Religion.

10. All religions are antiquated and primitive.

9. Religions are man-made.

8. Science, reason and logic are damaging to religion's credibility.

7.The promise of posthumous life can lead to the devaluation of life.

[bullc1945]

Veery good. I didn't get a real good idea about what he believes, but I thought his critique of religion was good.

[thezwomann]

Interesting interview. Thatnks for putting this online.