On Thursday, April 2nd, Anthony Fisher, bishop of Parramatta, delivered his inaugural Easter message.
He used his message to launch a rather scathing attack on atheism. An attack that showed a complete lack of understanding of what atheism actually is, as well as a profound distortion of fact.
My first thought was the hypocrisy of a member of the Catholic church actually passing a moral judgment on someone. I would've thought it perhaps more appropriate apologizing to the thousands of innocents who have suffered at the hands of the Clergy in recent years...but then that's just me. Really though, I don't think any institution has better defined the term 'do as I say, not as I do'. The whole idea of stones and glass houses would be quite foreign I suspect.
"Last century we tried godlessness on a grand scale and the effects were devastating,'' he said. ''Nazism, Stalinism, Pol-Pottery, mass murder and broken relationships: all promoted by state-imposed atheism or culture-insinuated secularism.''
He also said it was an illusion to think we could live a better life without God.
Well...were to begin. Jesus freaks are always fond of citing Nazism and Stalinism as examples of what happens when you let atheists run loose. Mao is also an old favorite, so I was surprised he left him out. I'm not surprised, however, that he left out the fact that Hitler was a Catholic. He mentions his Catholicism not only in his book Mein Kampf, but also in several speeches.
To somehow imply that atheism played a role in Nazi Germany is not only offensive, but it shows a level of juvenile thinking at its most basic. Stalin was an atheist, and let's assume Hitler was. Hitler's Nazism had nothing to do with atheism, and Stalin was a Marxist. I think it's a bit hard to argue that hatred towards was the Jews was anything other than religious-based.
This also, of course, demonstrates a lack of understanding of what atheism really is. It is simply a lack of belief in a higher being. A refusal to accept that god exists certainly hasn't given me the compunction to go out and kill. Religious folks have always tried to link atheism with evil, but this is a link that is simply absurd. It's about as absurd to suggest that Hitler and Stalin did what they did because they had mustaches.
To me, these comments show a level of nervousness within the church, and also a profound arrogance. The church is simply incapable of looking inwards and seeing what its problems are, instead choosing to attack atheism. I believe that that the Catholic church is a morally corrupt institution, and rotten to the core (accepting of course my *slightly* biased view).
So when bishop Fisher looked out over I'm sure many empty pews, he attacked atheism and godlessness. Not a word about child abuse, not a word about the wrongs committed by the church. In other words, it's someone else's fault.
I would also argue against his assertion that it is an illusion to think we could live a better life without God. I believe that a life free from the horribly burdening shackles of religion is a life truly lived.
But, overall, as much as his comments smacked of ignorance and misinformation, I take comfort in the fact that a prominent Catholic bishop used one the his most important messages of the year to attack atheism. A common tool of the ignorant is to attack what they fear, and knowing that a high-ranking member of the clergy fears atheism...well, that almost makes want to sing 'Praise Jesus' (...almost).
