Atheist Ireland put back in their box!

[Benny Sweeney]

Great interview today on Newstalk. Fr Vincent Twoney really put Michael Nugent of Atheist Ireland back in his box!

"Atheist humanism produced the worst horrors history has ever witnessed. True or False?"

This  was a question from the teacher training programme at Hibernia College, which was challenged by Atheist Ireland when they complained that it was defamatory.

The coursework was set by Fr Vincent Twomey as part of the Catholic religious education module in their programme. The college have since stated: "we are now also intending to provide graduate student teachers with a second more pluralistic programme of ethical and religious education which reflects the faiths and beliefs of a wide range of religions and non-religious belief systems."

Michael Nugent is Chairman of Atheist Ireland and he joined Fr Michael Twomey on air with Jonathan to discuss the role of religion in education today. You can listen to the interview here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fX7t8nB_2dg#!

[Orior]

I couldn't be arsed watching the video.

Just give me a handy sentence or two to put the Athiests back in their boxes.

[Eamonnca1]

I couldn't be arsed watching the video.

Just give me a handy sentence or two to put the Athiests back in their boxes.

You won't find it listening to that.  Nugent wiped the floor with him.  Hibernia college worked with Atheist Ireland to remove the offending material and there was Twomey still trying to defend it after the fact.

[J70]

"Back in his box"?? Really?

Not from what I heard. He certainly didn't make much of a case for atheism being responsible for nazi or communist atrocities.

That said, lets assume, for the sake of argument, that atheism WAS to blame for 100 million deaths. That doesn't mean that there must be a god or gods or that the god of the leading monotheisic religions is any more real and those religions any more correct. Nuclear physics has led to some appalling outcomes too. Doesn't make it any less correct. Anything can be directed towards malevolent ends.

And why should atheism be put "back in a box"? If christianity has so much going for it and is so convincing, the tiny minority of atheists around shouldn't pose much of a threat to it.

[Keane]

lol @ thread

[Billys Boots]

Why would you laugh at this stupid troll; you're only encouraging him?

[Eamonnca1]

I think that the Treaty of Versailles and the undercurrent of anti-semitism in inter-war Europe had more to do with Hitler's rise to power than any alleged atheism. In fact Hitler was raised a nominal catholic who was taught from a young age to hate Jews. The structure of the SS (the people who actually carried out the Final Solution) was inspired by the Jesuit Order and Hitler referenced God many times; he thought he was doing God's work. He also recruited children into his movement under the Hitler Youth, and one of them boys is now the f**king Pope.

[thejuice]

Yeah, there many strands to the origins of the Nazi's beliefs. You can trace it back as far as the Theosophical Society who sprang up in India 1890, with their ideas of the Aryan race being the next step up in human transcendence. Then there was also the  romantic nationalist volkisch movement which was behind a lot of the extreme conservative thinking.

Coupled with everything Eamonnca1 said and you get what you get.

Consider that the church was about the only thing the Nazi's left alone, taking over all public offices and services, destroying liberal socialist and communist parties. The anti-semitism goes back a long way. In the days of the German Empire deep divisions existed between the German aristocracy who were losing power and the Jews who came to represent capitalism and modernity.

[thejuice]

And even still I think those who rush to blame religion for atrocities misses a point too. The spread of religions is as much about power grabs and political influence. Christianity spread across Europe as much by the political and military allegiance it created than the power of its words. Religion or atheism alone does not create atrocities. If either disappeared tomorrow I have no doubt that wars and massacres would still happen.

[Eamonnca1]

The difference between atheism and religion is that religion specifically demands violence against those who don't follow it. For all the talk about Islam being a 'religion of peace' the Hadith is littered with calls to kill the dreaded infidel. That's the difference between Stalin and the 9/11 hijackers. Stalin did his thing in the name of a political ideology, the Saudis with the knives did their thing as part of a Jihad and in exchange for sexual favors in the afterlife. If they were atheists they'd still be walking about and probably doing something useful. It was religion that poisoned their minds.

[thejuice]

Perhaps or maybe they would be the same angry young men who can be persuaded by other means to fight an the infidel enemies of their nation.

[Eamonnca1]

Sorry, but to commit suicide-murders against innocent civilians takes quite a bit of faith in there being an eternal reward.

[thejuice]

well yeah, of course. Where as those who are persuaded to kill and/or die for nationalism/racism/politics are different in what way other than method and a different imagined greater reward?

[Eamonnca1]

Motive.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

well yeah, of course. Where as those who are persuaded to kill and/or die for nationalism/racism/politics are different in what way other than method and a different imagined greater reward?

But these are not issues of Atheism, countless Theists religious die/kill for these things.