Atheism-EN

Today I came to hear (well read) this, a tweet from someone whose opinions I generally respect to (after all, follow him on Twitter) ... and despite being incredibly common, I can not help but be surprised that someone is able to say - or think - that.

What atheists who criticize religion are generally divided into two aspects: 1) the critical acts by religious institutions or in the name of religion (eg spread of AIDS in Africa because of opposition to condoms, masking institutionalized pedophilia ¹ , oppression of women in Muslim countries, religious terrorism, anti-intellectualism and opposition to science, etc..), and 2) criticism of religious beliefs and religious thought proper, in the promotion of rationality and scientific thought, in making the world better, as opposed to a humanity trapped in that supernatural beliefs are never going to "wishful thinking". All these acts are reduced to critical - critical of acts, critical of people, ideas and criticism. This is what is "fanatical miltante"?

The idea of people making these statements seems to be this: the critic is a reprehensible act "as bad" as the author of that act, merely because the act of criticism.

Those who criticize a corrupt politician as he is as reprehensible. Who requires justice for a rapist or pedophile is as criminal as if he had raped or abused children. Who to call the police to report a theft is as guilty as the thief. Who rebels with racism is as reprehensible as the greatest racist.

Does that make sense? Of course not. It is completely absurd for the examples above, and it is for any other example I can think of.

Except religion.

Has long since we see it, and many have said in the past: it is historically unusual criticism that somehow religion - and in the case of countries like Portugal, the Catholic Church - and even until very recently time was so unusual that someone did, that the slightest whisper sounds like a scream. And it sounds that way even to those who is not himself a believer.

Nothing else explains why, regardless of the abuses and atrocities made ​​up by religious organizations, or made ​​in the name of religion, the very criticism in opposition to them is absurdly equated to these abuses and atrocities.

Who says things like the post title, my suggestion is: think a bit on this issue. Why is religion - Christian or not you be - must be on a special pedestal, above criticism? And if you think it should be, why act like it should?

1. notice that I do not blame the pedophilia itself: there is only the fault of the individual concerned, and not have to be religious to be a pedophile. But the crime of concealment and breach of other children in the future thanks to this cover-up - in the name of "reputation of the universal church" - is 100% guilty to the Catholic Church hierarchy and the same. [ ↩ ]