X-Treme Atheism!!!

It seems the role of aged, conservative and self-important men to say or do really stupid things. Us in the UK have the bastion of foot-in-mouthery in the guise of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Show him the opportunity to be awkwardly racist and he will take it with both hands, both feet and all guns blazing.

But it seems there is a new pretender to this heavyweight of ignorance and awkwardness. And what's more, he has God on his side. In the blue corner; in the Papal Pants of White and Gold and the impressively pointy hat, His Eminence, His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI!!

For as the Pope took to the spotlight in his first appearance in Britain; now classified a "Third World Country" by his representatives in the Vatican, he gave a speech offering the hand of friendship in the hope of improving relations between Britain and the Vatican and was full of praise for our efforts in defeating the Nazi's.

He then proceeded to elevate that hand with a bend at the elbow, put his thumb to his nose, wiggle his fingers and proclaim "Nuh nuh nuh-nuh nuh!

Yey, for it was that then His Holiness decided to warn of an impending terror, bigger than any ever before faced on our planet, and possibly worse than Aliens with evil intent. No, not the ignorance displayed by important world leaders but the perils of extremist atheists! And just like our country kept the tyranny of God-hunting Nazis at bay, so should they, with equal disdain, cast out the Evil Atheists, lest they destroy the world.

Well done, Benny. Well done.

So, admittedly, this isn't going to piss off the country as a whole. The Daily Mail are sure to love it, and will be spouting anti-atheist rhetoric and Bible quotes a-plenty in the weeks to come. Atheists are not the majority by any stretch of the imagination. But what a great way to show off the benefits of the Religion you have made your employment as well as vocation. By going out and comparing atheists to the Nazi regime. Peace and Love to all men!

I am, as is probably very clear by now, an Atheist. I could list the reasons why, but this blog is long enough. To put a long story short; I like science too much to harbour the belief it was all created. Deifactured if you like. Random chance is what gets me off. Putting an overall architect in the mix is just boring.

But, on the whole, I don't care if what you live and die by is the all-encompassing belief in a God being at the centre of all this magic. I accept the diverse nature of human frailties and that a large number of people feel that life is much more than what can be rationalised. Fair enough, there is a lot of crazy shit out there. If you want to put that down to the intervention of the Omnipotent then I'm not to say that you are misguided. We are all guided by our own individual influences and reasonings. I will happily leave you to it.

So why can't you leave me to my atheism? Why does the Christian Church feel so obliged to meddle and to poke at atheists, hoping they'll crack and follow their God's will? I single this to Christianity simply because a) I'm talking about the Pope and b) I have only ever been bothered by Christians in this way. Never before have I been walking through the High Street only to be bothered by a Hindi asking me if I have let Ganesh into my life and; if not, given me 5 reasons why I will be reincarnated as a tapeworm if I don't.

Getting back on track, to say the Pope's comparison is unfair would be a cataclysmic understatement. Yes, the Nazi's attacked religion. But mostly Judaism. And, though my Nazi History is a bit rusty, I'm pretty sure this was due to extremist Christian assertions that the Jews were to blame for the death of Jesus. Not because Hitler was a really angry atheist. There was also, I think I am right in saying, a Nazi church with Christianity as it's principle guidelines. And of course, famously, the Pope at the time of Nazism, Pope Pious XII, did nothing to stop Hitler throughout his time in power. So, essentially, the Catholic Church stood and watched whilst Hitler went about destroying the Jewish, Black and Gay population of Europe, as well as others. I, as an atheist on the other hand, have barely enough motivation to write this blog against the Pope's crazed ramblings, and I am deemed worthy of condemnation as an extremist, comparable to Nazi persecution. Slightly disproportionate I feel.

This is ignoring both the fact that Ratzinger was a Nazi Youth himself and the rather prominent consideration that; in terms of criticising extremism, the Catholic Church doesn't have a leg to stand on, particularly in the realms of religious persecution (Inquisition and the Crusades anyone?). This is because, in my most logical eye, the current Pope is hardly to blame for either the Nazis or the previous actions of the Catholic Church. What Pope Benedict is responsible for, however, is the progression of the Catholic Church. In this, I can only see that he is failing at his task. He had a chance here to genuinely offer a friendly hand, attempt to reason the benefits that Religion could offer the world and change the perception of the Catholic Church for the better. Sadly; he resorted to auto-Christian and, instead, chose to attack those who disagree with religion in an attempt to belittle their claims as extremist nonsense. And so, once again, progression is cast aside in favour of redrawing battle lines with those who are different.

As a closing thought, I wish to share the thought which allows me to take pleasure in this unpleasant man's ignorant comparison. During my Philosophy degree I was introduced to the idea of the Reductio ad Hitlerum. Put simply, this is where an argument is made against a policy because of similarity to Hitler and the Nazi party, suggesting that this similarity means that acceptance of the particular policy will lead to further, Nazi-like evils. The man who highlighted this form of argument, Leo Strauss, regarded this as a false form of argument. A form of scare tactic to end debate and interest in a policy using guilt tactics. Essentially, when an argument reaches a Reductio ad Hitlerum, the argument has failed.

And so, I can sleep restfully, safe in the knowledge that I am not a Nazi and that the Pope is just a desperate old man who just wants to hide in his castle.