Dec 12, 2007

World History



Joe Ratzinger, who calls himself "pope bendict XVI", recently issued an encyclical arguing against atheism and outright blaming it for most of history's atrocities. He should open a history book or perhaps look at the current pedophile infestation he has been covering up with massive payments to victims.

The usual tactic is to note that Joseph Stalin was an atheist and thus insinuate that atheism leads to mass killing because there is no morality to it. And there isn't. Atheism is not a moral philosophy nor a political movement--it's simply a lack of a belief in god(s). One can be a strict science based atheist or a new age quack, a libertarian or a socialist. I've never known anyone who's moral beliefs derived from atheism.

Ratzinger:
Since there is no God to create justice, it seems man himself is now called to establish justice. If in the face of this world's suffering, protest against God is understandable, the claim that humanity can and must do what no God actually does or is able to do is both presumptuous and intrinsically false. It is no accident that this idea has led to the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice; rather, it is grounded in the intrinsic falsity of the claim.
Whether religious or not, most people would agree we need to improve life on earth. This includes establishing governments, creating laws, doing scientific research and creating art, among other things. Since god didn't deliver unto us the constitution, evolutionary biology, medicine, democracy, or equality under the law since the dawn time, we've had to create them ourselves. Ratzinger finds that "presumptuous." Most likely what he detests is that people have found routes to live fulfilling lives that don't include attending his church.
A world which has to create its own justice is a world without hope. No one and nothing can answer for centuries of suffering. No one and nothing can guarantee that the cynicism of power—whatever beguiling ideological mask it adopts—will cease to dominate the world.
That's right. We can't guarantee it as centuries of atrocities have shown. We are on our own and it is up to us to make the world a better place. If we succeed, the power that will "cease to dominate the world" will be morally bankrupt frauds like Joe Ratzinger.

17 Comments:

Blogger garth2 said...

Hear hear.

7:57 PM  
Blogger jqb said...

It should be no surprise when religious people say stupid stuff ...

"If in the face of this world's suffering, protest against God is understandable, the claim that humanity can and must do what no God actually does or is able to do is both presumptuous and intrinsically false"

... but teh stupid here is almost too thick to comprehend. Hey Joe, no one claims that humanity can create a world free of suffering. But we ought to try to achieve what justice we can within our limited powers.

"A world which has to create its own justice is a world without hope."

Ah, the immense cowardice of the religious. Because they cannot face the world as it is, they choose to invent and believe in a nonsensical fantasy.

8:24 PM  
Blogger a@b.com said...

I'm trying to put a stop to this BS.

9:03 PM  
Blogger Bad said...

The Pope just doesn't get us.

9:50 PM  
Blogger Coathangrrr said...

The real problem is that the majority of people want objective moral truths, not some subjective post-modern moral interpretation. But it's exceedingly difficult to argue for objective moral truth when there is no God.

11:00 PM  
Blogger Duncan said...

coathangrrr - "But it's exceedingly difficult to argue for objective moral truth when there is no God."

That's rubbish. Moral truths are concepts that have evolved through selection pressure.

4:24 AM  
Blogger Bad said...

Coathan, I think you're quite wrong. The existence or non-existence of God makes no difference to the philosophical matter of "objective moral truth." Theism, the beliefs of theists to the contrary, cannot provide any special source of meaning. All the talk about the existence of God allowing morality to be "objective" is based on a bluff: on simply refusing to notice that theist accounts of morality require the exact same seemingly arbitrary and unenforceable assumptions to get off the ground as does any moral system.

In fact, thesim is at a particular disadvantage because it's so indirect and requires so many ambiguous doctrines. For theism to work, you first have to assume that wanting to do whatever God wants is moral, and then you have to find out what God wants (which is the right God, which is the right INTERPRETATION of the right God, etc.) and only then, maybe, can you work your way down to the idea that rape is maybe a pretty horrible thing to do. Most non-theistic accounts of morality (which is to say: most of them) simply start right off the bat with ideas of valuing empathy, caring about other people directly. Instead of only caring about people as an indirect abstract proposition secondarily derived.

7:56 AM  
Blogger rschauer said...

Ratzi can justify anything: he worships an angry, jealous, vengeful, genocidal god he says is loving. Additionally, he hangs his mitre on the predicted return of the son of god who was murdered by his all-powerful father (or he committed suicide, take your pick) who wasn't quite powerful enough to save him from a sin committed in a garden by a talking snake and a woman 6000 years ago a few months after the beginning of time. Makes sense doesn't it?

IMHO, the pope is a thug or bully scarring people into his "old lie."

9:20 AM  
Blogger Avi said...

Clearly, humans can be tremendously evil whether or not they are religious. Also they can be good, whether or not they are religious. Religion is SUPPOSED to make you good and not evil, but that doesn't always work.

Panel 4 is the best!

9:37 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Hey Matt, do you mind if I put a copy of this cartoon strip up on my blog? It's:

www.torreymeeks.com/site/blog/blog.html

This cracked me up, and it's too true, so I'd like to share.

2:20 PM  
Blogger Matt Bors said...

Torrey,

Sure go ahead. Just provide a link back. Thanks!

2:48 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Matt,

Excellent. I've got it up. The strip itself is linked back to your blog. Much obliged.

-Torrey

7:32 PM  
Blogger Tall-Cute said...

This is the first of your Comics I read but It wont be the last. Really sharp and smart, especially pannel 5, Poor Dawkins!!!.
I have never understood how catholic people can say things like that. Hugs from Spain

9:41 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Praise Richard Dawkins!"

I'm laughing my ass off, Matt. Thanks for this one.

1:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Praise Richard Dawkins!"

I'm laughing my ass off, Matt. Thanks for this one.

1:10 PM  
Blogger Matt Bors said...

Thanks forksmuggler. Hello to sergio and all others who found my comics through various links.

The last pope didn't do much in the twilight of his life except look like he was sleeping. He did travel a lot and spoke about helping the poor. The new-ish pope seems intent on being more hardlined. That's great--it will only drive more people away from the church.

1:40 PM  
Blogger Tall-Cute said...

But the people who decide to stay with him anyway will be really annoying...

Sergio (a.k.a Tall-Cute)

5:18 PM  

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