Nuns and Atheists

As I've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of the CNN Belief Blog. It combines religion, journalism and controversy; which, to me, is the perfect storm of delight.

My favorite writer for the blog is Stephen Prothero, a professor at Boston University. He is my second-favorite CNN employee (behind Anderson Cooper, of course), and he has recently been covering the Vatican's condemnation of Sister Margaret Farley's book, Just Love. Click here to read more about it, it's pretty interesting.

So there are two sides to this: 1) I agree with a lot of the things her book says, so therefore I think she's a badass nun. I also like the idea of people being individuals and thinking for themselves. You go, girl! 2) Nuns are Catholic. Catholic teachings are pretty strict. If you don't want to follow the Catholic teachings, don't be a Catholic (much less a nun).

Anyway, then I read a follow up article (again, by my love Prothero). And of course I love most everything on the Belief Blog (even/especially articles I disagree with), but sometimes what's better than the writing is the comment section.

I've grown strong in my belief that when someone makes the decision to be an atheist, they have to also adopt the "I am right, you are wrong and dumb and below me" attitude. At least for the atheists on the Belief Blog. It seems that atheists flock to this blog to make negative comments about any and every article.

Usually it's annoying. Like almost always. But every once in a while, a well-spoken atheist flitters by and makes a good point.

Like Atheist commenter "Colin" for example. This is his letter to Catholics from God, and whether you choose to believe them or not, he makes some interesting and at the very least entertaining points.

"Dear Catholics:

God here.
First, I do not exist. The concept of a 13,700,00,000 year old being, capable of creating the entire Universe and its billions of galaxies, monitoring simultaneously the thoughts and actions of the 7 billion human beings on this planet is ludicrous.

Second, if I did, I would have left you a book a little more consistent, timeless and independently verifiable than the collection of Iron Age Middle Eastern mythology you call the Bible. Hell, I bet you cannot tell me one thing about any of its authors or how and why it was edited over the Centuries, yet you cite them for the most extraordinary of claims.

Thirdly, when I sent my “son” (whatever that means, given that I am god and do not mate) to Earth, he would have visited the Chinese, Japanese, Europeans, Russians, sub-Saharan Africans, Australian Aboriginals, Mongolians, Polynesians, Micronesians, Indonesians and native Americans, not just a few Jews. He would also have exhibited a knowledge of something outside of the Iron Age Middle East.

Fourthly, I would not spend my time hiding, refusing to give any tangible evidence of my existence, and then punish those who are smart enough to draw the natural conclusion that I do not exist by burning them forever. That would make no sense to me, given that I am the one who elected to withhold all evidence of my existence in the first place.

Fifth, I would not care who you do or how you “do it”. I really wouldn’t. This would be of no interest to me, given that I can create Universes. Oh, the egos.

Sixth, I would have smited all traditional Catholics, (and evangelicals and fundamentalists) long before this. You people drive me nuts. You are so small minded and yet you speak with such false authority. Many of you still believe in the talking snake nonsense from Genesis. I would kill all of you for that alone and burn you for an afternoon (burning forever is way too barbaric even for me to contemplate).

Seventh, the whole idea of members of one species on one planet surviving their own physical deaths to “be with me” is utter, mind-numbing nonsense. Grow up. You will die. Get over it. I did. Hell, at least you had a life. I never even existed in the first place.

Eighth, I do not read your minds, or “hear your prayers” as you euphemistically call it. There are 7 billion of you. Even if only 10% prayed once a day, that is 700,000,000 prayers. This works out at 8,000 prayers a second – every second of every day. Meanwhile I have to process the 100,000 of you who die every day between heaven and hell. Dwell on the sheer absurdity of that for a moment.

Ninthly, had I existed, do you really think my representation on Earth would have such a history of corruption, retardation of science, financial misdeeds, political intrigue, outright criminal behavior and sexual misconduct, including pedophilia, as the Vatican does. I mean, come on! As a CEO, I would be fired for allowing my organization to run amok century after century.

Finally, the only reason you even consider believing in me is because of where you were born. Had you been born in India, you would likely believe in the Hindu gods, if born in Tibet, you would be a Buddhist. Every culture that has ever existed has had its own god(s) and they always seem to favor that particular culture, its hopes, dreams and prejudices. What, do you think we all exist? If not, why only yours?

Look, let’s be honest with ourselves. There is no god. Believing in me was fine when you thought the World was young, flat and simple. Now we know how enormous, old and complex the Universe is.

Move on – get over me. I did.

God"

 
All that being said, the beauty of faith is that it doesn't have to be justified. I find his list amusing none the less.