No, Atheists Have No Reason to Like This Or Any Other Pope At All

Sigh. Bless its heart, the very nice people at the American Humanist Association are going to tactfully, diplomatically, let's-all'get-along compromise all of us straight into theocracy.

New Pope Francis' offer of dialogue with atheists is the same our-way-or-the-highway evangelism the freakazoids have been inflicting on the world for millenia. That it comes packaged with a smile instead of torture and burning at the stake makes it more dangerous, not less.

And his assurance that atheists, through good works, can go to heaven is about the most insulting thing I've ever heard. Your heaven doesn't exist, Frankie boy. We reject your mythology - that's what atheism means.

That the leader of the AHA thinks this is a positive sign is depressing.

Joe Keohane at Esquire:

We called up Roy Speckhardt, Executive Director of leading atheist group American Humanist Association to see if he saw this as good progress, or maybe akin to being granted admission into a club you never wanted to join in the first place.

SNIP
 

In a column you wrote for the Huffington Post in February, after Benedict resigned, you proposed an ideal pope—one who emphasizes universality and good works—figuring a guy like that would never get the job. But then he sort of did, right?

I continue to be pleased with what Francis is talking about and his openness—despite papal authorities’ attempts to retract his statements [laughs]. He’s offering very universal ideas—not closing the door and saying you have to be a Catholic in order for good things to happen. This is the kind of world leader that we need in a position of power that the pope has if we want hope for a more universal community.

SNIP
 
 But people assume atheists are rooting for the Church to fail. Is there a way for atheism and organized religion to be strengthened simultaneously or is a zero-sum game?

Oh, I definitely see it as an opportunity for both sides to grow in a positive direction. I think atheists are a little naïve if they think that the best solution is to convert everybody to atheisms. That’s not going to happen any time soon. This is the world we live in. But we have to find ways to nurture the more progressive, more open-minded people willing to reason and re-evaluate positions in churches. We should encourage that to happen. Churches do revise their opinions from time to time. Instead of criticizing them for not being true to their faith—which we don’t agree with anyway—we should encourage them.

jesusfuckingchocolatecoveredchristonapogostick! Religion is the source of all anti-human works in the world, Speckhardt, and shame on you for pretending otherwise.

Anti-human works - patriarchy, authoritarianism, misogyny, poverty, fear, shame and hatred - are the whole purpose of religion. All religions. Without them, religion withers and dies. 

Where people are free of myth and all its lethal works, people and society thrive. Where myth reigns, so does violence, poverty and hate.

And where atheists compromise with religion, the freakazoids grow stronger and society suffers.