Read the article about the Pope saying Athiests are to blame for many of the major injustices in history?

Question

Here's the link!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071130/wl_nm/pope_encyclical_dc

He says that athiestists were to blame for many of the greatest injustices in history. What about the wiping out of entire civilizations "in the name of God" (Aztecs, Incas, Mayans, many native american tribes, aboriginal australians, many south pacific island cultures.....and on and on...)? How about the Holocaust and the churches "stance of non involvement"? What about the wars in the across the globe that have been raging for centuries over whose religion is right....Muslims v. Christians, Catholics v. Protestants.....? It seems to me that the pope needs a history lesson before making such narrow-minded comments!

Just curious to see what others think about it!


P.S. I was raised Roman Catholic, went to church every sunday, attended private catholic schools, and am a self taught history nut. This is one of the most ridiculous comments I have heard from the church in recent years.

Intelligent answers only please. This is not meant to offend anyone so please don't preach. Just trying to start an intelligent, reciprocal dialog!

Answer 1

You've got a point there and I think comments like these are the reason that I started to question my own upbringing in the Mormon church. I don't have anything against my church and I will never say anything bad about the gospel, its just I wish that people would have an open-mind and respect one another not only for their religions but also because we are all humans forced to live in a world that is riddled with humane problems.

I am spiritual and spirituality is to me not religion because religion divides people, a belief in something unites.
(*I got that from the flight of the phoenix* lol)

Answer 2

Even better, read Pope Benedict's entire encyclical Spe Salvi: On Christian Hope? Here it is: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi_en.html

I find it interesting when some people say that the proven and documented crimes against humanity of the Atheistic Communist leaders for the past 80 years cannot be blamed on Atheism but the almost mythical crimes of "Catholic" leaders 800 years ago should be blamed on Catholicism today.

One example is the Crusades:

Muslim armies had conquered much of northern Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Spain, which had been some of the most heavily Christian areas in the world.

Thousands, and possibly millions, of Christians died during this drive to eventually bring the entire world under Islam.

The First Crusade was launched in 1095 by Pope Urban II to check the advance of the Muslims and regain control of the city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

I am sure that some atrocities were committed by both sides during this war but by most people's judgment this was a just war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Crusade

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

Yes, especially considereing it's been illegal (and in some cases in the world still is illegal) to be an atheist until some time in the past 200 years...

And considering that we've never been more than 10% of the population... Worldwide.

(Ranto: Technically the church Inquisition only killed a handful of people. The church courts would grant pardons for a confession in most cases. The real death toll came from the government courts, especially the local ones.)

Answer 4

I wonder how these injustices measure up to actions like the Albigensian crusade, or the Intifadeh in Israel/Palestine.
It's hardly a clean split between atheists and theists when it comes to injustice.
Most atheists take everyone equally, I only get mad at theists when they demonise my lifestyle or the lifestyles of others, based on some arbitrary belief dreamt up by a possibly fictional figure.
I realise this sounds like a rant, but let's be honest, atheists tend to be the fairer of the two, no?
I was also raised Roman Catholic and baptised and confirmed as such.
I took action off my own back to decide that it was not for me.

Answer 5

I lived in communism, and I´ve seen the exact same arguments used by the Communists to establish atheism on society, ridiculing religion as the opiate of the people, as pure money - loving nonsense. For you Americans its easy to be Atheist, you´ve never sufferd through a Communits dictatorship. You haven´t seen interrogation chambers, or didn´t have to fear any secret police. You were never fired from your jobs for going to Church and listening to "lies".

Now with the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe people are more religious, they are finding their roots, because they saw how much dammage this Atheism did to their society even though it apparently had good intentions.

The past was bloody nobody denies that, "many rights and many wrongs were done in the name of being right."

But some things are clear, the Indigenous of the Americas were wiped out mainly by diseases that were introduced into the society that they had no immunity towards. As the Europeans advanced, the epidemic of disease went ahead of them. Now I study here in Mexico, they say it was the first use of "biological warfare", but of course this is a 20th century concept, the epidemic was unavoidable.

it is true that there were many holy wars too, but one thing is clear, Christianity does not glorify war like the Nazis did, Pope Pius the XII did secretly negotiate the lives of thousands of Jews, informed the British of a plan within Germany to overthrow Hitler in 1940, which the British ignored, and later failed. He was the first Pope to adress Catholics during WWII on radio to pray for peace, and his condemnations were dropped in leaflets over Germany by the British.
http://www.chivalricorders.org/vatican/piusXII.htm

More recently, Mr. Bush did receive a warning from John Paul II before heading off to his crusaid in Iraq, which he didn´t take seriously because America was so intent on its own agenda.

I agree with B16. You have to understand where he comes from. His father was strongly religious and condemned the wild secularism of the Nazis. Where else in history has forced sterilisations, and the murder of the genetically impure been a national agenda. What other society invested so much resources to murder millions of innocent civilians. What other society in history could invent factories of death like the gas chambers. And who was it if not the religious who entered those chambers by the millions "upright, with the Shema Yizrael or the Lord´s Prayer on their lips", without a rebellion? - quote from holocaust survivor.

When will people realise that Atheism is a dreamt out Communist nightmare, and the world needs hope?

Answer 6

The beast(fallacy way and false hood) shall go to war with the saints(true way) and shall overcome
the saints. This is a prophecy in revelation 13. The war over
who is right and who is wrong, but only for a short time
will the beast reign then the fallacy way will come to a end.

Answer 7

What else would you expect from the leader of a religious faction to say about his opposition. This has been the way of Christianity since the beginning. Take truth and turn it around.

Answer 8

I do not agree with the Pope much, but atheism, well just read what i posted before:

Many souls turn to atheism. because ...

1. Rather than being hindered by the transcendent moral authority of the Bible (rightly applied) and the Spirit of Christ, atheism allows you to do whatever is pragmatically "responsible" to your "superior" mind (i am responding to militant atheists like Dawkins, etc.). Just like Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, etc. were enabled to do .

2. You can call yourself "brite" and demonstrate it with remarkable insight, such as insisting that Hitler was a Christian, but communistic atrocities had nothing got do with atheism's objectively baseless morality. And many like things. http://www.tektonics.org/parody/fundyath.html

3. You can promote yourself as tolerant, while exhorting people, expel the “witch doctors out of our lives before they explode the bomb" (Harris), as evangelical Christians are noted for doing.

4. You can also worship yourself or other men without calling yourself "religious."

5. You can make militant Islam your polemical best friend as you universally broad brush all religions as bloody, and define Christianity by Roman Catholicism (which stands in stark contrast to the church in the Bible).

6. You can point to all the great civilizations, hospitals, soup kitchens, etc, that were begun by atheism, while Hollywood was inspired by the Ten Commandments.

7. Finally, you can "reasonably" sin away your day of grace, love darkness over the light, rejecting Christ whom you denigrate by your superior morality, but who served others selflessly day and night, and died for you and rose again, to save those who (unlike your caricatures) truly repent and trust Him (not Rome) for salvation, and so seek to follow Him.

And whose reality is testified by gracious effects, not bombs or Stalins.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3682855866783766146
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4136610474021109864
http://www.cbn.com/700club/features/amazing/
http://www.truthsaves.org/testimony /
http://www.christian-faith.com/truestories.html
http://www.truthsaves.org/testimony /
http://www.shelovesgod.com/library/testimonies.cfm
http://breadsite.org/topics.htm
http://www.crosssearch.com/People/Personal_Christian_Homepages/Topical/Testimonies/

Answer 9

and this man is considered to be infallible...

his comments are slanderous and without merit.

the pope wouldnt last 5 minutes in a debate w/ dawkins, harris, hitchens, dennett

the pope is a feeble old man who facilitates child molesters in evading the law

Answer 10

I am currently writing a book about the terror of the RC church, ie what was carried out during the first three crusades.