One thing for sure, I spoke way too soon.
Only a few days ago I wrote it was a good time to be an atheist (see Qur’an Burning for Fun and Profit). I based this conclusion on the latest antics of the faithful who, as a result of some obscure Christian preacher’s threat to burn the Qur’an, had gone back to the good ole days of attacking one another and leaving we atheists, for the first time in years, untargeted in the scope of religious bigotry. Yes, Muslims were once again attacking Christians and ‘other’ Muslims (for not being Muslim enough) while Christians were doing much the same thing. Evidently, my conclusion was premature.
The pontiff, on his recent visit to England, bucked the trend and brought the focus of religious bigotry back on what he obviously thought was a more appropriate target - atheists. According to an article entitled: Pope warns U.K. of atheist extremism in the September 17 edition of the Calgary Herald, the Pope “warned Britain not to lose sight of its Christian heritage in its ‘multicultural’ and ‘aggressively secular’ modern culture.” Yes, we sure wouldn’t want a multicultural society in England what with all those blacks, Jews and Muslims running around. Read the rest of this entry »