A couple of days ago, while on Twitter, I came upon a link to an article by Jennifer Fulwiler titled: 5 Catholic Teachings That Make Sense to Atheists. The very beginning of the blog post gave me some hope that there might actually be some hope that Ms. Fulwiler was going to, at least, attempt an honest dialouge with members of the skeptical community. She started off almost well enough by stating in the second paragraph:
Though atheists typically see all belief in the supernatural as unreasonable...
Alright, you got that part correct. The only real complaint I have with that statement is the fact she spelled Atheist with a lower case "a" instead of capitalizing it like she does for Christians. Sadly, though, she completes the sentence and the theme for the rest of her blog post becomes apparent:
...some doctrines, like the ones below, strike them as less crazy than others.
Right then and there she makes the idiotic claim that there are some types of supernatural beliefs that Atheists actually agree with. They are, in order:
1. Purgatory
Spiritual re-education camp for the soul to change you into a perfect being before you go to Heaven.
2. The Communion of Saints
Your dead relatives watch you when you eat, sleep, poop, masturbate, are the point man in a circle-jerk etc.
3. Veneration of Mary
After all, she's god's mommy!
4. Salvation for Non-Catholics and Non-Christians
Only works if you were born on Mars and never had a chance to hear and accept the word of god.
5. Apostolic Authority
God runs the Roman Catholic Church. That guy in the funny hat who protects paedophiles? He's like a human dictaphone with a hot-line to Jehovah.
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The problem with all of these teachings, which I am sure you have figured out by now, is that they ALL presuppose you already believe in a god. If one believes in a god then they are, by definition, a Theist which is the direct opposite of being an Atheist. Rather than finding these teachings to be "less crazy" than other theistc doctrines, they are all 100% certified bat-shit crazy.
This load of fertilizer, comes from someone who makes the claim that she not only talks to Atheists but was also once an Atheist herself. This, after she acknowledges that Atheists believe that "...the supernatural is unreasonable." I have come to the conclusions that she wouldn't talk to an Atheist (willingly) to save her own life and she is lying through her prosteltyzing teeth when she claims she was once amongst the ranks of the unbelieving.
So there you have it. In the end, she's just another liar for Jesus. I thought there was a rule against that in their holy book. Somewhere near the front.
