Give us your misogynists and bigots
By RICHARD DAWKINS - THE WASHINGTON POST
Added: Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 UTC
Each week the Washington Post's On Faith team sends a question out to its Panel. This week, the question was as follows:-Rome's Anglican annex
The Vatican is making it easier for Anglicans -- priests, members and parishes -- to convert to Catholicism. Some say this is further recognition of the substantial overlap in faith, doctrine and spirituality between the Catholic and Anglican traditions; others see it as poaching that could further divide the Anglican Communion. What do you think?
The Panel's answers can be found here
Richard Dawkins is a member of the Panel, and his answer is posted below. Paula Kirby is also a member and her answer can be found here
Richard's Post
What major institution most deserves the title of greatest force for evil in the world? In a field of stiff competition, the Roman Catholic Church is surely up there among the leaders. The Anglican church has at least a few shreds of decency, traces of kindness and humanity with which Jesus himself might have connected, however tenuously: a generosity of spirit, of respect for women, and of Christ-like compassion for the less fortunate. The Anglican church does not cleave to the dotty idea that a priest, by blessing bread and wine, can transform it literally into a cannibal feast; nor to the nastier idea that possession of testicles is an essential qualification to perform the rite. It does not send its missionaries out to tell deliberate lies to AIDS-weakened Africans, about the alleged ineffectiveness of condoms in protecting against HIV. Whether one agrees with him or not, there is a saintly quality in the Archbishop of Canterbury, a benignity of countenance, a well-meaning sincerity. How does Pope Ratzinger measure up? The comparison is almost embarrassing.
...
Continue reading
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/richard_dawkins/2009/10/give_us_your_misogynists_and_bigots.html
Tweet
RELATED CONTENT
Secular Guidelines to Moral Living: A...
Jeff Schweitzer - Huffington Post 35 Comments
So, in honor of Hitchens I propose here guidelines to how we can make those daily decisions, a secular distillation of moral behavior derived from those characteristics that define us as human.
The atheist who tried to steal Christmas
Larry Taunton - USA Today 70 Comments
Christmas is, after all, the season of magic, and lest children confuse sugar plum fairies and flying reindeer with the observable and repeatable, the professor has loaded neither toys nor goodies on his sleigh but a heavy dose of "rational skepticism."
Richard Dawkins - RichardDawkins.net 89 Comments
I suspect that there is life elsewhere in the universe, but it is probably extremely rare and isolated on far-flung islands of life, like a celestial Polynesia.
Evolution, Christmas and the Atonement
Denis Alexander - The Guardian... 59 Comments
We are not descended from Adam and Eve – but still, Jesus was born to save us.
Richard Dawkins - RichardDawkins.net 351 Comments
The new 'evidence' amounts to yet another 'Argument from Personal Incredulity': the Italian scientists cannot understand how it could have been faked.
Americans: Undecided About God?
Eric Weiner - New York Times 59 Comments
Nones don’t get hung up on whether a religion is “true” or not, and instead subscribe to William James’s maxim that “truth is what works.”
MORE BY RICHARD DAWKINS
“It’s Part of their Culture” - Reading...
Richard Dawkins - RD.net 84 Comments

“It’s Part of their Culture” - Reading Nick Cohen in the light of the Jaipur affair
Beyond Reasonable Doubt? [Also in...
Richard Dawkins - New Statesman 62 Comments
This article was published in New Statesman, 23rd Jan 2012, under a different title. [Also in Polish]
Redundancy Reduction and Pattern...
Richard Dawkins - Edge 11 Comments
Redundancy Reduction and Pattern Recognition: Richard Dawkins's Answer to the Annual Edge Question
Afterword from Lawrence Krauss' New...
Richard Dawkins - RDFRS 64 Comments

Afterword from Lawrence Krauss' New Book
A Universe From Nothing
Richard Dawkins - RichardDawkins.net 89 Comments
I suspect that there is life elsewhere in the universe, but it is probably extremely rare and isolated on far-flung islands of life, like a celestial Polynesia.
Richard Dawkins - RichardDawkins.net 351 Comments
The new 'evidence' amounts to yet another 'Argument from Personal Incredulity': the Italian scientists cannot understand how it could have been faked.



















Comments
Comment RSS Feed
Please sign in or register to comment
View Comments Page