Is the pope for freedom of religion if he badmouths atheism?

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The pope preaches freedom of religion but badmouths a religious group? You could say that atheism drives people away from Jesus or the Catholic Church, but the same argument could be made against Islam. So why is the pope badmouthing atheists but not Muslims? Is it just because its ok to badmouth atheists?
 
bingbang said:
The pope preaches freedom of religion but badmouths a religious group? You could say that atheism drives people away from Jesus or the Catholic Church, but the same argument could be made against Islam. So why is the pope badmouthing atheists but not Muslims? Is it just because its ok to badmouth atheists?
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It’s best to look at these things in context. “The pope badmouths atheism” means near to nothing without quotes, sources, etc.

With that said, the Holy Father is the head of a billion+ Catholics worldwide. His mission is to shepherd his flock and lead souls to eternal life, to seek those sheep who have strayed, and save souls from Hell. Thus he is fundamentally against atheism, just as a mother is fundamentally against her child playing in a busy street.

Of course, people will take this as him being “rude” or “politically incorrect.” But our day and age is so sensitive, it seems they would rather a person stay quiet than to shout “get out of the way” as a nearby train approaches.
 
As far as I know the Pope hasn’t badmouthed any athiests. He critiques atheism, as he critiques other ideologies that fall short of what he believes God has called humanity to. In this sense, he has even critiqued the Church. But has the Pope made any comments about any particular athiest? Not that I’m aware of.
 
bingbang said:
The pope preaches freedom of religion but badmouths a religious group? You could say that atheism drives people away from Jesus or the Catholic Church, but the same argument could be made against Islam. So why is the pope badmouthing atheists but not Muslims? Is it just because its ok to badmouth atheists?
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What are you talking about?
 
bingbang said:
The pope preaches freedom of religion but badmouths a religious group? You could say that atheism drives people away from Jesus or the Catholic Church, but the same argument could be made against Islam. So why is the pope badmouthing atheists but not Muslims? Is it just because its ok to badmouth atheists?
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Tsuwano’s reply is excellent, but I’ll add my two cents nonetheless:

Do you know what freedom of religion is, bingbang? It means that your freedom to practice whatever religion - or lack of religion - you want is legally and politically protected. A belief system’s being permitted does not imply that it is good or right, merely that you have the right to accept or reject it for yourself. As Voltaire put it (and this is a heavy paraphase, mind you), “I disagree vehemently with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

It’s not a hard concept. Please be mature enough to understand it. There is no tension between even the most strident criticism of atheism - or Catholicism, or Islam, or any faith - and freedom of religion.
 
bingbang is an instigator, IMHO. He asked on a previous post: “What if the Church is wrong about gay marriage?” and then wouldn’t concede any point that was made. I don’t know that anyone should feed his apparent attention seeking behavior.
 
bingbang said:
The pope preaches freedom of religion but badmouths a religious group? You could say that atheism drives people away from Jesus or the Catholic Church, but the same argument could be made against Islam. So why is the pope badmouthing atheists but not Muslims? Is it just because its ok to badmouth atheists?
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Check out Pope Benedicts comments regarding this. He got a lot of heat about this, later apologizing that he meant nothing negative regarding the religion of Islam. By the way atheism is not a religion.🙂

The Regensburg lecture was a lecture delivered on 12 September 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI at the University of Regensburg in Germany, where he had once served as professor of theology. It was entitled “Glaube, Vernunft und Universität — Erinnerungen und Reflexionen” (German: Faith, Reason and the University — Memories and Reflections). The lecture is considered to be among the most important papal statements on world affairs since John Paul II’s 1995 address to the United Nations, and sparked international reactions and controversy.

In his lecture, the pope, speaking in German, quoted an unfavorable remark about Islam made in the 14th century by Manuel II Palaiologos, a Byzantine emperor. As the English translation of the pope’s lecture disseminated across the world, many Islamic politicians and religious leaders protested against what they saw as an insulting mischaracterization of Islam.[1][2]
 
As someone may have already said… I think this is a misunderstanding what is meant by “freedom of religion”. Freedom of religion usually means that you have the freedom to choose your religion and the state should not impose a religion on you or ban a religion from being practiced. Like, if the United States were to make only Christian religions legal (unlikely :p) but make it illegal to be a Muslim or a Buddhist or an atheist.

“badmouthing atheism”, whatever is meant by that, is not a violation of the freedom of religion in that sense.

It is the Church’s mission to go forth and bring all people to God, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, to evangelize, etc. Freedom of religion does not mean that we can’t preach the truth, and therefore decry other religions as “bad” or wrong, or mistaken.
 
Besides, Muslims are much more our allies than atheists. At least they worship God, and we agree with them on many areas of morality. They’ve got a lot of things going for them already. Atheists don’t really…
 
Atheism= God does not exist.

Ergo, the Pope is not guilty of “criticizing” an erstwhile “religious group”…

I will not debate whether or not atheists have acceptable moral standards (mainly because if brings into question their “atheism”,considering they embrace Christian beliefs)… but I will contest the thought that they consider themselves a “religious group”…

Talk about an “oxymoron”…😛
 
is Buddhism a religous group?

Buddhists are atheists remember…Buddha was a man…and went to great lengths to make sure his followers did not see him as a god after his death.

as far as the pope badmouthing atheism…it just shows how much we scare the pope
 
vardaquinn said:
Besides, Muslims are much more our allies than atheists. At least they worship God, and we agree with them on many areas of morality. They’ve got a lot of things going for them already. Atheists don’t really…
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Your naivete is astounding…

parapundit.com/archives/007399.html

examiner.com/muslim-in-baltimore/islam-101-what-do-the-verses-kill-the-mushrikun-polytheists-mean

You and others like you remind me of Chamberlain after he made his little deal with Hitler…
 
Scare? Ha! You wish.
The Church has been dealing with heresy and skepticism since Jesus rose into heaven, and it will continue to do so until the end of the world.
 
CharlesDarwin said:
is Buddhism a religous group?

Buddhists are atheists remember…Buddha was a man…and went to great lengths to make sure his followers did not see him as a god after his death.

as far as the pope badmouthing atheism…it just shows how much we scare the pope
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Buddhists are not “atheists”… so your claim is wrong…

Buddhism is a bit more complicated than your statement…
 
RobHom said:
Your naivete is astounding…

parapundit.com/archives/007399.html

examiner.com/muslim-in-baltimore/islam-101-what-do-the-verses-kill-the-mushrikun-polytheists-mean

You and others like you remind me of Chamberlain after he made his little deal with Hitler…
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Wow, it didn’t even take a whole page before a reductio ad hitlerum cropped up.

Can the rhetoric and let’s deal in realism for a moment. Yes, there are serious internal problems with Islam. Yes, it tends to be theocratic. But the plain fact of the matter is that like any religious or cultural group, it is not a monolith. There are moderate Muslims, including most Muslims who live in the United States. These moderate Muslims can and should be our social allies on a variety of issues and causes: abortion, traditional marriage, helping the poor, stopping drug abuse, etc. Furthermore, the greatest internal flaws in Islam - such as the kinds of misogyny it tends to encourage - cannot survive in the secular, western United States, which means we have even less to fear from American Muslims than we would if we lived in the Middle East. Thus why shouldn’t we work with them on important social issues in our country?

Also: to pretend that moderate Islam doesn’t exist deals no blow to radical, terrorist Islam. It helps radical Islam by belittling the kind of Muslims who are not a threat to us. I’m sure the terrorist, radical Muslims don’t want to acknowledge the existence of moderate Islam either. Let’s not help them out.

Finally, I fail to understand how the links you provided are in any way relevant unless you’re seriously trying to make the case that American Muslims secretly want to murder polytheists…
 
CharlesDarwin said:
is Buddhism a religous group?

Buddhists are atheists remember…Buddha was a man…and went to great lengths to make sure his followers did not see him as a god after his death.

as far as the pope badmouthing atheism…it just shows how much we scare the pope
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Some forms of Buddhism actually have deities. Secondly, unlike atheism which is purely materialistic, Buddhism has a variety of common beliefs, such as enlightenment, rebirth and karma. Atheism is just a big zero, zilch, nada, there is nothing, just us, no purpose or any purpose you want, moral relativism, any ideology etc. Right? 🙂
 
Peter_Burke said:
Scare? Ha! You wish.
The Church has been dealing with heresy and skepticism since Jesus rose into heaven, and it will continue to do so until the end of the world.
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Yeah…but ever since they did away with burning at the stake its just been all down hill hasn’t it?
 
Tenofovir said:
Some forms of Buddhism actually have deities. Secondly, unlike atheism which is purely materialistic, Buddhism has a variety of common beliefs, such as enlightenment, rebirth and karma. Atheism is just a big zero, zilch, nada, there is nothing, just us, no purpose or any purpose you want, moral relativism, any ideology etc. Right? 🙂
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Some forms of Buddhism do…yes…however they still don’t give these deities many of the qualities people think of when the term god comes up

no…that is not atheism

Atheism is the lack of beleif in a god or gods…nothing more.

personally since giving up my religous faith my life has only grown more full not of items but of love for people, knowledge, and peace.

There is plenty besides us, there is the beauty and splendor of the universe, the earth, of our fellow living beings on this world. The majesty and mystery of the laws of physics from the very large black holes, galaxies, super novae, to the very small and qierd world of quantum physics.

as far as moral relativism absolutely not. My morals grew MORE strong as i became an atheist, as I realized that even though I would not be punish for my sins…I would be punished by them. I will not be punished for not giving the homeless man a bte to eat…but I will be haunted knowing that I could have helped to ease suffering in another living being and did not. I will not be sent to hell for stealing from my neighbor, but I will be punished by the thought that he lost something that held great value to him monetarily or emotionally. etc

“My country is the world, and my religion is to do good.” - Tom Paine
 
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