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...I've been offended by the pope!
No, atheism does not make you an amoral, unethical misanthropist out to slaughter world populace any more than faith makes you a morally sound, ethical philanthropist out to save the world populace by default!
If you want to read up more on this speech of intolerance and its long debunked equation of "secularism and atheism = lack of virtue and morality = Nazism", Bad Astronomy's Phil has a good summary here.
"As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the twentieth century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society and thus to a “reductive vision of the person and his destiny"
Pope Benedict XVI in the UK
No, atheism does not make you an amoral, unethical misanthropist out to slaughter world populace any more than faith makes you a morally sound, ethical philanthropist out to save the world populace by default!
If you want to read up more on this speech of intolerance and its long debunked equation of "secularism and atheism = lack of virtue and morality = Nazism", Bad Astronomy's Phil has a good summary here.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-23 13:40 (UTC)From:And here I thought the pope was supposed to be scholarly. *facepalm*
no subject
Date: 2010-09-23 15:13 (UTC)From:All I can do from my end is explain to my religious friends that atheism ≠ amoral. I'd say we are even more moral, because it doesn't depend on a god and the fear of hell.
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Date: 2010-09-23 18:50 (UTC)From:Dude, idk how it is in Germany, but here in America there is a huge mob of conservatives who are constantly howling about how secular / atheist / liberal / anything like that = downfall of humanity, doom, etc. I have a bunch of them in my own family. They sit up on their moral high ground and spout things that defy logic and are completely out of touch with reality. They're frequently condescending to me when I express my views. I've been told many a time that I'm merely confused. Why, just last week I was called a socialist AND a totalitarian in the space of a breath. If the stupidity weren't so nauseating, it would be funny.
*huff* sorry for the rant >_> That must have been building up for awhile.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-23 19:03 (UTC)From:It's a matter of language: WWJD? = DBAD! ;)
("What Would Jesus Do?" = "Don't Be A Dick!")
Guess who most often fails to live up to that measure: condescending...