So what does the first step do exactly?

[Major Nikon]

[LongtimeAZDem]

1. Delay you from feeding them? (nt)

[rug]

2. Prevents smugness for being such a noble person.

[Ilsa]

3. Thank you.

Sometimes I wonder if Francis isn't closer to being a Methodist, LOL.

[No Vested Interest]

4. Love Francis, but I suggest that the reverse would work very well also.

Or -pray before and after feeding the hungry.
Or - Feed hungry, pray, feed again.

It's all good.

[Igel]

5. If you believe we're basically animals--

We live a physical life in physical bodies, with no separate "spiritual" life, then it does nothing. No god, no afterlife. You live, then you die and feed a variety of other forms of life. (There is no "lower" form of life. Just different ones.)

Of course, then we have a problem. If the only reward you get is what you get for yourself, then a lot of extreme behavior is perfectly justified. People have bent over backwards to come up with a decent ethics system that most people like based on universally accepted principles, but there aren't any. Mostly you assume your principles about what "the good" is and go from there as though the principles were axiomatic.

However, you don't need to do the first step if you don't want to. But if somebody else is doing the second step when you're sitting there saying, "Just feed them!" then you should mind your own business. He's not giving orders. He's explaining a word of no interest to you.

You abide by your own rules governing your moral behavior, and let others do likewise.

[Major Nikon]

6. Why should I mind my own business about prayer when they don't?

When someone is allowed to throw their ideas out for public consumption, but others aren't allowed to criticize those ideas, more than likely you have an excellent example of privilege.

The "if" part is also part of the problem. The amount the Catholic church gives directly to the hungry or anyone else is pretty much nil. Catholic charities are separate entities which are primarily financed with tax dollars. So for the most part, praying is all they are doing, which is why it needed to be mentioned to begin with.

[trotsky]

7. Your logic fails.

Right here:

"If the only reward you get is what you get for yourself"

I believe we have only our physical bodies, and this is the only life we get. But I also believe there are rewards other than what I get for myself. Sorry that all non-believers don't live up to your nasty stereotype.