Why do Catholics have to prop up this concept of original sin? Because Jesus’s sacrifice makes no sense if it wasn’t done to atone for a universal crime. We all must have inherited that sin, or some of us are innocent and Jesus was irrelevant to us. Can’t have that! That would mean we weren’t subject to the domain of Christianity.
Of course, even if it were true that all 6.7 billion of us were descended from just two people, that doesn’t mean the whole principle of atonement by a proxy blood sacrifice isn’t stupid and irrational. I personally don’t feel that I need redemption from some imaginary crime that my many times great grandmother committed (I’d actually say “You go, Grandma!” if I could — disobeying a psychopathic tyrant seems rather commendable to me), and even if I did, having some mysterious third party get tortured to death does not alleviate my guilt in the slightest.
—PZ Myers, Sunday Sacrilege: Cant can’t : Pharyngula
Yfrog Image : yfrog.com/n58u7lj - Uploaded by bengoldacre
Photo of crowd protesting the Pope’s visit in the UK from Ben Goldacre
Stephen Fry has blogged in response the Daily Mail accusing him of leading an “atheist hate campaign” against the Pope. It is a very thoughtful and considered response to the shrieking hysteria of the newspaper article, which outlines that he has no problem with the Pope visiting, he just questions the “state visit” nature of the trip (when the state the pope ‘represents’ is in fact a few square miles in the corner of Rome).
Of course, it is important to remember that this newspaper actively encourages attitudes very similar the Vatican’s when it comes to women, homosexuality and child abuse. OK, maybe not the latter one but definitely the previous two……
Great response!
Hell’s Angel: Mother Teresa by Christopher Hitchens (1 of 3) (via wsatb)
“During her lifetime Mother Teresa had become synonymous with saintliness. But in 1994, three years before her death, journalist Christopher Hitchens made this provocative film asking if her reputation was deserved.”
Worth watching. It is true that her PR is so good that people don’t know what she really was or what she stood for. In the past I have been admonished for calling her a horrible human being. But that’s what she was. A horrible human being.
