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

[napoli426]

Mohammed was a pedophile and a rapist. On top of that he was a murder and a liar. Sounds curiously like the traits of the devil. We need to pray for these lost souls. We cannot help them if we validate the lie they live in. There only hope is to be baptized and to repent.
Pax

 

[Aboveallbereal]

Yeah…but ever since they did away with burning at the stake its just been all down hill hasn’t it?

Aye all the way downhill to the gulags and the killing fields. Red Terror anyone?

In your opinion how will the atheist regimes of the future impose orthodoxy now that such brutalistic methods are past their sell by date?

You see how very easy it is to throw mud dear boy. We are very used to sneering historically ignorant western atheists saying “look at me aren’t I clever” on this site. Eventually they get bored and go away. I am happy to engage you but only if you engage in a grown up way. Please reflect on this advice which is well meant otherwise you will be ignored which may well play to your sense of superiority and thus validate you which given your puerile tone may well be your reason for being here ( again not a first by any means ) but which will not lead to helpful discussion.

 

[vardaquinn]

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

It depends what you mean by religion. If you mean a group of people who believe in some sort of “God”, then no. I would say religion is more a set of fundamental beliefs involving the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe and that sort of thing believed by a group of people, and generally involving a moral code and certain practices.

In which case atheism is also a religion, since it is based on the belief that God does not exist. This is a matter of faith.

Buddhism definitely fits into that category though.

As for burning at the stake… that wasn’t ever the Pope so far as I know. And it was very rare, about two executions for heresy like that every year or so.

 

[Marc_Anthony]

It depends what you mean by religion. If you mean a group of people who believe in some sort of “God”, then no. I would say religion is more a set of fundamental beliefs involving the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe and that sort of thing believed by a group of people, and generally involving a moral code and certain practices.

Atheism:

. Has one, and only one, fundamental “belief” about the universe, and that is that its cause is not supernatural.

That’s it.

And if we used that to classify it as a religion, then we’d have to classify theism-just pure theism-as a religion. Which would be ludicrous.

. Has no moral code. Some atheists believe in objective morality, some don’t. Some have morals, some don’t. For that matter some believe in the afterlife.

. Has no practices that are agreed upon by all atheists. To one atheist God might be an evil concept, to another it’s a false but necessary one.

. Have a variety of explanations for the cause, nature, and purpose (sometimes lack thereof) of the universe. The only thing these explanations have in common? None are supernatural. That’s it. And if you’re going to use that to call atheism a religion, then again on those grounds I call theism a religion because they all involve supernatural explanations for events. And that would be ridiculous.

In which case atheism is also a religion, since it is based on the belief that God does not exist. This is a matter of faith.

The burden of proof is on the religious, I’m afraid; atheists don’t need faith to be atheist, just reasons not to believe religious arguments. And whether I agree with their protests or not, they certainly have their reasons not to be religious.

 

[Fone_Bone_2001]

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.

Well, look who just dropped in from the nineteenth century.

I am not referencing your screen name. I’m referencing your unduly optimistic and downright religious sense of positivism and transcendental naturalism.

As far as the pope badmouthing atheism…it just shows how much we scare the pope

Atheism scares a lot of people… like Friedrich Nietzsche. Let me remind you of his famous parable:

Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place, and cried incessantly: “I seek God! I seek God!”—As many of those who did not believe in God were standing around just then, he provoked much laughter. Has he got lost? asked one. Did he lose his way like a child? asked another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? emigrated?—Thus they yelled and laughed

The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. “Whither is God?” he cried; "I will tell you. We have killed him—you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to light lanterns in the morning? Do we hear nothing as yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we smell nothing as yet of the divine decomposition? Gods, too, decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.

“How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed; and whoever is born after us—for the sake of this deed he will belong to a higher history than all history hitherto.”

Here the madman fell silent and looked again at his listeners; and they, too, were silent and stared at him in astonishment. At last he threw his lantern on the ground, and it broke into pieces and went out. “I have come too early,” he said then; "my time is not yet. This tremendous event is still on its way, still wandering; it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time; the light of the stars requires time; deeds, though done, still require time to be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than most distant stars—and yet they have done it themselves.

It has been related further that on the same day the madman forced his way into several churches and there struck up his requiem aeternam deo. Led out and called to account, he is said always to have replied nothing but: “What after all are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchers of God?”

Source: Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science (1882, 1887) para. 125; Walter Kaufmann ed. (New York: Vintage, 1974), pp.181-82.]

That’s a tall order. Are you up to the challenge, CharlesDarwin? 'cause if the twentieth century has taught us anything, it’s that Nietzsche was not overreacting to the death of God.