I'll take rational thought with a side of Atheism, please.

I am incredibly disheartened today. I read an article not long ago about Pope Benedict attacking Atheism as "cruel and unjust"saying that it had led to some of the “greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice” known to mankind. What? Explain please. (He doesn't,) Perhaps the good Pope forgot that "he who asserts must prove."

I think the very basic aspect of all of this can be boiled down to one single question, especially when he is labeling Atheism as cruel and unjust and saying that it has led to cruelty and violations of justice: When was the last time someone attacked someone else (be that plural or singular) in the name of Atheism? When was the last time it happened in the name of god?

You still want to argue that religion is good for our world? Without religion the twin towers would still be standing (arguably.) Without religion we'd be a whole lot smarter and technologically advanced. We'd be a whole lot more rational, we'd be a whole lot safer. We'd be a whole lot less scared, and a whole lot more responsible for our own lives.

I'm also disheartened that Benedict completely misses the idea behind Atheism. He says that Atheism was created to explain the creation of justice by man since there was no god to do it. False, good sir. Atheism is the rational and logical explanation for the state of the world. No god has provided laws for us (men have, in all cases.)

The Pope said, but “the claim that humanity can and must do what no God actually does or is able to do is both presumptuous and intrinsically false”. Again, false, good sir. It is not intrinsically false to say that humanity must do what no god does. That's like arguing that it is intrinsically false for one teammate to do what another cannot. The Pope's quote above, actually makes no sense at all whatsoever. The more I read it, the less sense it makes.

There are good aspects to religion, and the idea of god. I cannot deny that. But religion openly and actively tries to slow down progress, make people afraid, and control lives. There is also absolutely zero basis to the theory that without faith in god people are "evil" "morally suspect" or "morally corrupt." Those are just blatant falsehoods. I have been an Atheist since I was 12 years old. That is when I reached the age of reason and realized that the idea of god just didn't make any sense whatsoever. I am not morally reprehensible, morally corrupt, unjust, or evil. I am a good, kindhearted person, who believes that helping people is good. The more you help the better life will be in general.

There are some who will argue that those are religious tenets -- with that I cannot necessarily disagree, but it's worth noting that just because it has some good ideas, that does not warrant diving full-on into it.

I'm an Atheist. I have been for a very long time, and I will be for the rest of my life. I don't want to raise children believing in god, but believing in themselves, and being good people. Logically it makes sense. I want to raise them to question things, find their own truths and answers, and never seek the easy way out. And most importantly, never let their search for answers in anything lead them into cruel and unjust areas. I guess that means keeping them away from Pope Benedict.