Web: nyc-atheists.org
Press contact: 212-879-2687
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The Pope’s recently released encyclical (Pope Stresses Hope in Latest Teaching, Nov. 30), in which he bashes Atheists, is an attempt, we feel, to deflect attention from the Vatican’s problems at a time when Catholicism is losing adherents, its churches are closing up (most recently, a well-known Greenwich Village church), Catholic schools are shutting their doors, the church has had to pay millions of dollars to victims of pedophile priests and it is finding itself hard put to attract young men to the priesthood. We feel the Pope is distracting his constituency from these problems by maligning Atheists, who do not follow, and do not wish to follow, the church’s ancient, ineffective and sometimes corrupt practices.
Atheist organizations, in contrast, are growing; there are new ones cropping up every day. Atheist books are best sellers, celebrities are coming out of the religious closet and no pedophilic scandal has ever sullied our good name. Evidently the Pope is not aware that we Atheists are known for our scientific accomplishments (Darwin, Stephen Hawking), our literacy (Mark Twain, Jack London), our public works and philanthropy (Bill Gates, George Soros), our Nobel Prizes (Richard Feynman, physics), our compassionate aid to the impoverished (Margaret Sanger), our legal acumen (Clarence Darrow) and our dedication to democracy and justice.
Despite the church’s vast wealth and more than 2,000 years of existence, it has failed to resolve the problems of poverty, hunger, war, illness, universal education and cooperation between nations. We think we can do better than that. It’s our turn now.
| KENNETH BRONSTEIN | |
| Manhattan, Dec. 3, 2007 |
The writer is president of New York City Atheists, an affiliate of American Atheists.
New York City Atheists is a non-profit educational and action association open to non-believers and believers of all stripes including atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers, skeptics and those who are questioning and searching. NYCA is an affiliate of American Atheists.
For further information, call Kenneth Bronstein at 212-535-7425.