Awkward questions for theists - No.4

Catholics, do your priests believe that by confessing their sins they will still get into heaven? Or are they really just as sceptical about the stuff they preach as those they condemn for atheism?

Awkward question for Theists - No.1
Awkward question for Theists - No.2
Awkward question for Theists - No.3

The Crisis of Secularism

A nicely argued case from Pat Condell.

What if atheists are wrong? - a response

A superb response to the hoary old question:-

Causes of the Rise & Decline of Islam

Extract from a speech delivered by Marmaduke Pickthall in Madras,

India in 1927:-

"The Muslim empire revived after the attack of Genghis Khan and even made fresh progress. A progress so remarkable that once more it threatened Europe as a whole, and so aroused the old crusading animosity in modern dress, which was the secondary reason of its downfall. I say the secondary reason for the main reason for the downfall must be sought in the Shari'ah, among those natural laws which must always control the rise and fall of nations.  

The empire was apparently progressing but it was progressing on the wave of a bygone impulse. The Ulama who sought knowledge "even though it were in China" were no more. In their place stood men bearing the same high name of  Ulama claiming the same reverence, but who sought knowledge only in a limited area, the area of Islam as  they conceived it - not the world-wide, liberating and light-giving religion of the Qur'an and the Prophet, but an Islam as narrow and hidebound as religion always will become when it admits the shadow of a man between man's mind and God.  

Islam, the religion of free thought, the religion which once seemed to have banished priestly superstition and enslavement of men's minds to other men, forever from the lands to which it came, had become - God forgive us! - priest-ridden.  

The pursuit of natural science had already been abandoned. All knowledge coming from without was reckoned impious. For was it not the knowledge of mere infidels? Whereas the practice of the early Muslims was to seek knowledge even unto China, even though it were the knowledge of a heathen race. The growth of pride accompanied the cult of ignorance.  

The Christian nations, which had been moved to the pursuit of science by the example of the Muslims, had advanced materially just as the Muslims had advanced materially so long as they obeyed that portion of the Shari'ah or Sacred Law which proclaims freedom of thought and exhorts the pursuit of knowledge and the study of God's creation. The Christian nations threw off the narrow shackles of ecclesiasticism and espoused free thought, and their advance in the material field was as surprising in its way as were the conquests of the early Muslims in their way."

Every Catholic should read this . . .

From ex-catholic girl - "A dirty little girl her head hanging in shame"

"The Catholic Church loathes children. Loathes them. To the Church, children are Catholics first and humans second, and the lifelong trauma caused by childhood indoctrination is mere collateral damage in the Church’s battle against the outside world. As is so often the case, the Church unashamedly places their own interests above all other concerns, including the welfare (physical, emotional, and mental) of children. And an organization that despises and preys upon its weakest and most vulnerable members (who haven’t even chosen to be members) is undoubtably a force of great evil in the world."

Red for Danger

 . . . not suggesting they are all pedophiles, simply referring to the dangers inherent in the irrational & superstitious belief system their lives are dedicated to representing and propagating.

Awkward questions about Jesus

From "Outnumbered" my absolutely favourite TV series of recent times.

Preacher says atheist ad campaign backfired

So says a "Top Papal Preacher" in Vatican City reported by Reuters UK. Amongst the usual RC blather we have this priceless remark:

"Suffering is certainly a mystery for everyone, especially the suffering of innocent people, but without faith in God it becomes immensely more absurd".

On the contrary, by the standards of any reasonably sane person the appalling suffering that is visited at random on some helpless, innocent people make the idea of a loving god completely absurd.

Ah, say the priests, "The ways of god are too mysterious for us to know". I prefer to rely on the principle of Occam's Razor and opt for the more obvious explanation. There is no god that has ever taken the slightest interest in the human race or ever will.