Poop Benedict Blames Atheists For World Woe

By James Donahue

Pope Benedict XVI recently issued a statement in which he blamed "modern-day atheism" for some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" ever known to mankind.

Oh really?

In a 76-page document, his second encyclical since taking office, the pontiff complained that the world is "marked by so much injustice, innocent suffering and cynicism of power" that it "cannot be the work of a good God." He criticized socialist thinkers like Carl Marx and other Nineteenth and Twentieth Century thinkers who spawned atheists who failed in efforts to "create a new salvation on Earth.

"We must do all we can to overcome suffering, but to banish it from the world is not in our power," the Catholic leader said. "Only God is able to do this."

While we agree that the world is stricken by great cruelty and injustice, and that early efforts to generate a socialist system that granted all humans equality ended in a failed communist system that only made matters worse, we strongly disagree that Christianity offers any hope for improvement.

If that religious movement had anything to offer, we should have seen evidence of it after 2000 years.

What Christianity has given us, instead, has been even more intense forms of cruelty, injustice, and that coupled with great suffering and misery.

The Christians of Europe, under the flag of the Vatican, spent years fighting the Moslems and control of the real center of the Holy Land, at Constantinople, in what are known as the Crusades. Many see the current conflict between the Christian/American led military forces against the Islamic people in Afghanistan and Iraq as yet a continuation of the Crusades. Millions of innocent Iraqi people of either been killed or driven from their homes by what we have done there alone.

The American assault on Iraq has resulted in the ultimate in misery, suffering and killing. Many say it is a genocide that exceeds anything Hitler ever did during World War II. And it was all sparked by false information either uttered by America's fundamental Christian President George W. Bush. The jury is still out on the probability that Mr. Bush was misled by poor intelligence or if he purposefully lied to justify the attack.

It was the Christian Puritans in Europe and the American colonies who launched what are remembered as the "witch hunts" that destroyed the names and reputations, and forced many people, mostly women with psychic abilities, to endure great suffering and even death. The frenzy to hunt down the so-called witches was sparked by none other than King James I of England, the very man who ordered the translation and publishing of the King James Bible.

The Christians have been locked in deadly conflict for thousands of years over the various interpretations of the words in the Bible. Martin Luther led a great revolt that separated the old Roman Catholic Church and established the Lutheran Church. After that, additional splits brought about a wide variety of churches that fall under the general name of Protestant Churches. The name speaks for itself. These churches exist because of people who protested the religious demands imposed on them under the old order.

The terrible warfare on the streets throughout Ireland that went on for years was stirred by an unfounded hatred by Catholics and Protestants for each other. They were willing to kill one another for their cause, just as the Christians and Moslems are doing today throughout various parts of the world.

The root of many other wars and genocides that have occurred throughout history has been religion. And Christianity has probably played a bigger role in these affairs than any other form of organized religion.

Some of the worst crimes in American history have been committed by men and women under the name of Christianity. Among them: the Chicago Clown-for-Christ, John Wayne Gacy, who lured young boys into his home, then killed and buried them in his basement and yard. Serial killer Ted Bundy was active in the Methodist church, once serving as vice-president of the Methodist Youth Fellowship. Andrea Yates said she was instructed by God to drown her four young children in a bathtub to save them from a life of sin.

There is a very long list of such cases.

It has been hard, if not almost impossible to find a professed atheist with a profile of pain and suffering that compares to those of Christianity.

For those who might argue that Russia's Stalin, who ruled his Communist nation with an iron and bloodied fist, might be an exception, we counter with this:. Joseph Stalin was a Georgian, raised in a Russian Orthodix church background. He received his education at the Seminary of Tiflis and trained for the priesthood.

Adolf Hitler was a practicing Roman Catholic.