Soapbox Mike Lake: The Pope should not be expecting taxpayers to subsidise his pontifications
THE Pope has made headlines but perhaps we can now set the record straight.
An atheist is someone who does not need a god to answer the big questions of life – but there is no set of beliefs called "atheism".
Most atheists are "humanists" – putting people first and seeking answers by investigating the universe.
Humanists favour a happy and responsible life for themselves and for others – no one has ever gone to war or blown up themselves and others in the name of non-belief.
"We will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built up. We regard Christianity as the foundation of our national morality." Is that a quote from Pope Benedict? No, Hitler.
2,000 years of Christianity blaming the Jews for the death of Jesus created the anti-semitism that made the Jewish Holocaust possible. It was not until 1965 that the Pope "forgave" the Jews.
The Catholic Church has always supported right-wing dictatorships against the will of the people in Spain, Portugal, France and South America. After the Second World War the Papacy assisted Catholic members of the SS to escape justice by fleeing to Catholic dictatorships in South America.
Given history and recent events within the Catholic Church, the Pope is not in a position to lecture us on morality.
Humanists promote tolerance and understanding through integrated education.
Religions prefer segregation of children along strictly religious lines. In South Africa this was called "apartheid".
How can anyone look at Northern Ireland, where almost 100% of children are still educated in religiously segregated schools and argue that segregation leads to community cohesion?
"Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith." Are they the words of Pope Benedict? No, Hitler.
Each year 70,000 women die in back-street abortions in Catholic countries, one million people die of Aids because the Pope bans contraceptives and women and homosexuals are second-class citizens – all because of the Church's obsession with gender, sex, and sexuality.
We are not opposed to visits by religious leaders – as long as taxpayers do not fund it, as long as they do not call for harm towards others and as long as they do not masquerade as "heads of state". The Vatican has fewer than 300 residents and is a tiny place formed in a deal with Mussolini in 1929. It is not a country and it is not a member of the United Nations so to pretend the leader of a religion is a head of state is silly. The Pope came as head of a religion; as such, he should have paid his own way and not expected taxpayers to subsidise his pontifications.
6 Comments
by AtheistMike, Egginton
Friday, October 01 2010, 10:47AM
“Mea culpa!
I wrote "pour" instead of "poor" - I am an ignorant little atheist
(For the intellectually challenged - that's irony by the way!)”
by AtheistMike, Egginton
Friday, October 01 2010, 10:36AM
“Unfortunately there was only so much I could put in the 600 words allowed for Soapbox - after all, the Telegraph is not the place for a long rant
I do wish people would tell me what they mean when they use the word "atheism" - I have been an atheist since primary school (god and religion seemed silly then and they seem silly now - though religion is far more deadly than I realised then) and I have no idea what "atheism" is.
An atheist certainly does not have a faith - well, I don't and I should know! I see no need to postulate the existence of a supernatural entity, nor do I need science and the "Big Bang", in order to answer the big questions of life - and I can do my best to lead a happy and responsible life without the pontifications of religion. (BTW: I make no claim to be perfect - I am far from that as any of my friends and colleagues will testify!)
At my age I fully understand why people become religious and what it means in their personal lives - I have no problem with that.
I do have a problem when people who prefer rules in an ancient book, allegedly written by wandering desert tribes, as an external source of morality, rather than being able to internalise a strong personal sense of morality, try to tell me how to lead my life.
I often think : "well, it's their religion, it's their hell and they can go to it." Fear of hell was certainly what turned Tony Blair Catholic - after all, could you sleep at night if you had the deaths of hundreds of thousands on your conscience? All I can say is that if there is indeed a Christian hell, then he is destined for it. - as is Mr Ratzinger.
Even those with the shallowest knowledge of history will understand how religions have always supported the status quo: the rich against the pour, the powerful against the weak. This applies to the Russian Orthodox religion is Tsarist Russia, the Catholic church just about everywhere - and even the CoFE has long been known as the Tory party at prayer supporting landowners against tenants etc. The third son of any landed estate owner would become the rector (the first became the heir, the second entered the military) and made a living by stealing 10% of the production of everyone on the estate by way of church tythes. Many rectors knew nothing of religion and employed vicars to do the bible thumping.
All this is neatly summed up in a verse from "All things bright and beautiful":
The rich man in his castle
The poor man at his gate
God made them, high and lowly
And ordered their estate.
(Verse removed from modern hymn books for reasons of political correctness.)
My grouse with religion is firstly that it is the most divisive and deadly force in the world today - belief in an imaginary after-life causes some religious people to commit mass murder in the name of their god - and that it is an insult to human intelligence. We grow out of Santa Cause and Tooth Fairies - but some people can't get by without clinging on to their imaginary friend.
As adults we have a duty to liberate the minds of children by giving them full and unbiased information about all belief systems so they can make up their minds as adults which belief system, if any, they wish to follow.
The problem is religions don't want this - I challenge any Derbyshire Catholic school to invite me in to speak to Year 11 or upwards (yes, I am a qualified teacher, yes, I do have a CRB certificate). They want to segregate children from birth and drum only one set of beliefs into their heads. As one Derby vicar told me: "I am an atheist when it comes to Islam and I don't want our children learning that nonsense" - how bigoted can you get"!”
by Roman Catholic, Dublin
Thursday, September 30 2010, 11:58PM
“Nice to see that low brow populist mddle England has moved on from hating the Pope and Roman Catholics for not being Puritan enough to hating the Pope and Roman Catholics for not being atheist enough. O hang on you have not moved on at all!
You want to refuse the Pope diplomatic privileges dispute being head of a state and religious leader to 100s of millions because you are still stuck playing the same music but just with a different insrument.
Any use of the term humanist that rejects a spiritual life is false as it eliminates something which is evidently a huge part of humanity all over the globe and the history of civilisations since recorded history began.
You do know atheism is a faith based belief system don't you?
Peace be with you, believe what you will your views will be as transient as puritanism, might you skip trying to ban Christmas this time?
I personally though the Popes visit was very positive, quite historic and rather heartwarming. It was a step forward to see men of faith pray together and no Anglican or Roman Catholic went un moved when the Lords prayer was said communally
I don't like hereditary monarchy as it seems rather primitive and barbaric. Even the Pope is elected after all - but if your "Queen" comes here we'll give it a place to sleep and some protection from loonies. It is just civil.
Soapboxes tended to be utilised by bigots and rousers, hopefully you may make a better use of your position the next time a literary mood takes you.
Goodnight and good luck to Roman Catholics in the UK.”
by Veronique, Leslie, Fife, UK
Thursday, September 30 2010, 10:17PM
“Well, Mike, you say the sorts of things that I would say. So I have no problem with you whatsoever.
Nice to see someone writing things the way they actually are. And not pontificating. I am glad I am a humanist, secularist and atheist.”
by Jeff, Derbyshire
Thursday, September 30 2010, 4:25PM
“Im afraidmthats just the way it is. There are plenty of non religious things tax payers have to foot the bill for. What about the state visit to Britain by Chinas president a few years ago, how much did that cost? No angels the Chinese government are they? At least in this country we can argue, demonstrate and oppose things without being run down by tanks! Just think of the trade all of the visitors who came to see the pope gave our cities. The pope will always be an easy target for people but hey, this world is full of things we have to pay for but dont want to, ie the television license. I am a lapsed catholic so Im not a big fan of the pope but there are worse things we pay for believe me!”
by William, Rural Derbyshire
Thursday, September 30 2010, 12:28PM
“Mike,
You're going to be so popular amongst the god-bothering tendency. I can picture Saros What'shisname groping for pen and reams of paper as I write.”