Are atheists a threat?

[naomi24]

Cardinal Kasper pulled out of the Pope's visit to the UK saying that there is an atmosphere of ''aggressive atheism'' in Britain and Christians are at a disadvantage, and the Pope has in his speech this afternoon associated atheism with Nazism, which to me sounds like a desperate attempt to disparage the non-believer. Are these men really that worried that atheists, no longer afraid to speak up, will succeed in exposing religion for the lie it is?

[ummmm]

Lol :-)

If it wasn't for Naomi I would never have dared post in here. But her knowledge does scare me a tad...

[flobadob]

We've all heard over the past couple of days that atheism is coming to the fore around these here parts. Now apparently atheism is being linked to Naziism. In fairness, it seems obvious that the more atheists there are, the less religious people there are, hence less money flowing into their(Vatican) coffers. These guys are just doing what any other gangster would do, protecting their own interests. The worrying thing is that their gang is bigger and, I would go out on a limb and say, more extreme than the atheist's gang. Should a fight break out, I wouldn't give atheists a hope in heck of winning what would most likely be a bloodbath(look at the history). Is this a declaration or war on atheists?

[mike11111]

What has always amused me, if that indeed is the right word, is the fact that atheists in general, and particularly those who post on this site, generally come across as far more self-opinionated, self-righteous, holier than thou, and dogmatic, than any believer in any faith I have come across in 60 years.

[craft1948]

I find the atheists who regularly post in R&S (with the exception of Naomi) to be almost as aggressive, but not as rude as, the contributors in News.

[ummmm]

Well at least I'm not the only one..

[jno]

mike: snap. Craft, I think religion and politics arouse roughly equal passions, but on AB only one side bothers putting their arguments.

The answer to the question is of course atheism is a threat to religion, as Aldi is a threat to Lidl, and vice versa in both cases; they're competition.

[mike11111]

With the greatest of respect I beg to disagree with your previous post. I think you might be confusing the Renaissance with the Reformation (slightly different things). Some of the most influential and innovative people of the Renaissance period held deeply strong religious convictions, both Protestant and Catholic (Da Vinci, Galileo, Newton), to name but three).

[mike11111]

And your point is?

[naomi24]

Mike, responding to statements that have no basis in reality with answers that are demonstrably correct is not self-opinionated. It's no different to giving an accurate answer to any other question on AB, so perhaps you were right to question your use of the word 'amused'.

Ummmm, if I encouraged you to join in, I'm very pleased indeed. The more the merrier. I'd really like to see far more people come and talk about this. By the way, I don't mean to be scary you know - I'm just passionate about my subject. ;o)

[modeller]

I'm an atheist but I'm not arggresive ( whatever that is supposed to mean ) I do find it impossible to discuss theology with believers because you can not argue with the blind . Most theists need religion to get through life . They need the crutches it offers. W

[modeller]

You cannot argue with theists they need the crutches that religion gives them . W

[LazyGun]

When you hear Ratzinger blather on, along with his circle of advisors, of "aggressive atheism", you can conclude several things.
1. That they still pine for those wonderful days where religion, and those high offices of religion, were afforded automatic,unthinking respect and deference.
2. That Ratzinger mistakes assertiveness with aggression, (as do many of a religious persuasion) and finds atheists damnably cheeky.

How dare they refute, how dare they argue, how dare they point the finger at an organisation which has systematically dragged its feet and attempted to cover up the involvement of priests in child abuse, who. by declaring use of the condom heretical have condemned millions to lives of squalor, hunger, illness and death - who refuse equal rights to women, and who still think that actions arising from faith should have a higher value than secular law.
Any attempt by the believers and their representatives to reinstate some of that unthinking, automatic deference to their faith should be vigorously challenged and rejected.

[naomi24]

^^ I totally agree.