As you may know I am at university currently, woop and yay. At university, people join societies to meet with like minded people and to generally have a nice chat about it every once in a while. Also yay. Some of my friends at university are in the Atheist Society. Fine, no issues thus far.
I recently read this on one of their posts: "Child rape by Priests makes me feel physically sick. How anyone can be associated with this disgusting institution by calling themselves a Catholic is beyond me."
Now this is where I find myself a stumbling block. I have no issue with people being in the Atheist Soc. I can appreciate that like minded people want to club together and chat about the things that they believe in (or not, as the case may be) together. My issue falls in the condemning of other people's beliefs just because of things that people in the organisation did. Don't get me wrong, I think it's deplorable that this has been allowed to happen within the Catholic church, but I don't think that people who worship as a Catholic should be tarred with the same brush. I don't think that Catholicism is a bad thing, and I don't think that anyone has any right to tell someone what they believe and live their lives by is wrong. I am an Atheist, but I don't begrudge anyone their faith. I don't rush up to people in Churches shouting that "God isn't real!" because everyone has to make their own mind and heart up. I totally understand that people draw strength, and wisdom and morality from their religions, and I don't think anyone from anywhere should be telling people that their belief system is wrong. Religions, as a whole, are very good at this. Anyone who believes in anything other than what they teach is, usually, damned. What intrigues me is that in this case it is the Atheists, the very people who go against major religions sort of...acting a bit like one. Evangelical Atheism...the very idea is terrifying.
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