from CNA<\/p>\n
Washington D.C., Mar 27, 2012 \/ 02:14 am (CNA).- At the March 24 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Reason Rally\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in Washington, D.C., an estimated 20,000 atheists and agnostics heard author and activist Richard Dawkins encourage mockery of Catholic beliefs and those of other religions.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Don’t fall for the convention that we’re all ‘too polite’ to talk about religion,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dawkins said, before urging rally attendees to ridicule Catholics’ faith in the Eucharist.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Religion makes specific claims about the universe which need to be substantiated, and need to be challenged \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and if necessary, need to be ridiculed with contempt,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he told the cheering crowd on the National Mall.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153For example, if they say they’re Catholic: Do you really believe, that when a priest blesses a wafer, it turns into the body of Christ? Are you seriously telling me you believe that? Are you seriously saying that wine turns into blood?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
If the answer is yes, Dawkins suggested atheists should show contempt for believers instead of ignoring the issue or feigning respect.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mock them,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he told the crowd. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ridicule them! In public!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The former Oxford professor and author of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The God Delusion\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was among the headliners of Saturday’s rally, which also featured comedian Eddie Izzard, punk rock group Bad Religion, and magician James Randi.<\/p>\n
Dawkins called for atheists to identify themselves in public, for the sake of a more openly secular society.<\/p>\n
He also claimed that many self-identified Christians are only nominal adherents of their religion, and should be given a chance to disavow beliefs that they may not hold.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When you meet somebody who claims to be religious, ask them what they really believe,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dawkins suggested.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If you meet somebody who says he’s Catholic, for example, say: ‘What do you mean? Do you just mean you were baptized Catholic, because I’m not impressed by that.’\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
But those who hold to the doctrines of their faith should be openly ridiculed, Dawkins said.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don’t despise religious people; I despise what they stand for,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he explained.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in his remarks, the former professor praised the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153truth\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153beauty\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of Darwinian evolution, and the ability of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153incredible process\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to produce life with the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153illusion of design.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153How is it conceivable,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he wondered, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153that the laws of physics should conspire together \u00e2\u20ac\u201c without guidance, without direction, without any intelligence \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to bring us into the world?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
It was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153almost too good to be true,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he rhapsodized, that this \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mechanical, automatic, unplanned, unconscious process\u00e2\u20ac\u009d should produce human intelligence.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That’s not just true, it’s beautiful,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he declared to cheers from the crowd of agnostics and atheists.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It’s beautiful because it’s true,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Dawkins. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And it’s almost too good to be true.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
from CNA Washington D.C., Mar 27, 2012 \/ 02:14 am (CNA).- At the March 24 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Reason Rally\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in Washington, D.C., an estimated 20,000 atheists and agnostics heard author and activist Richard Dawkins encourage mockery of Catholic beliefs and those of other religions. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Don’t fall for the convention that we’re all ‘too polite’ to talk about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.latinliturgy.org\/phila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.latinliturgy.org\/phila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.latinliturgy.org\/phila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.latinliturgy.org\/phila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.latinliturgy.org\/phila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.latinliturgy.org\/phila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.latinliturgy.org\/phila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.latinliturgy.org\/phila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.latinliturgy.org\/phila\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}