The mask of atheism

[fpb]

My experience is that the Pope's decision to form an Anglican grouping - not yet a Rite, but the difference is slight - has unleashed a vicious avalanche of anti-Catholic hatred such as I had not seen in quite a while. Catholic blogs are suddenly awash not only with Protestant and Anglican, but, more to the point, with atheist and Christian-hating trolls. And I hope my Protestant friends are not offended, but this seems to me to really throw off the masks of many so-called atheists. They do not reject or hate God. Of course, if you asked them to argue against the Aristotelian Unmoved Mover or against the Hindu Self of Selves, they would - in a fairly untroubled, perhaps even bored tone, as a duty. But what they really hate, what unleashes their rage and fury, is the Catholic Church. What makes this obvious is how the Pope's effective dismissal of further ecumenic progress with the CofE as it is, and his decision to create a Catholic Anglican area, have drawn such rage. Richard Dawkins, in his hideous Washington Post screed (http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/richard_dawkins/2009/10/give_us_your_misogynists_and_bigots.html), really throws off the mask. If he took his atheist positions - yes, those same views that have earned him millions of pounds through a worldwide bestseller - at all seriously, he would be as much against the Church of England as against the Catholic Church. Indeed, he might well oppose it more fiercely, because it means subsidizing "religion", however vague, with taxpayer money, and giving a status, however vague, as a part of the nation's legal establishment. (Compare and contrast Article 7 of the Italian Constitution: "The Italian Republic and the Catholic Church are, each in its own sphere, independent and sovereign.") But that is the absolute opposite of what he does; what enrages him is that the Catholic Church should dare to try and claim the Anglican heritage for itself. He valued the Anglican Church as a breakwater against the Catholic Church. So, basically, Dawkins is lying to someone; whether himself, or only his public, I do not know and have no interest in knowing. The point is that his supposed opposition to "religion" is blatantly revealed to be opposition to the Catholic Church alone.

As revealing as Dawkins' rant is that the Washington Post published it, and the string of horrors in the comments thread. Even the Bishop Williamson affair had not called forth so much sheer brute hate for the Church; but then, those who objected to Williamson and to the SSPX were not all motivated by hatred for the Church - they included people like me, who love it. In this case, the only thing that can possibly call forth so many haters is the Church itself; and anyone who wants to claim that anti-Catholicism is not one of the main, the driving forces in modern culture and politics must first explain away this horrible outburst of bigotry and hatred.

Comments

[marielapin.livejournal.com]

I don't know, Dawkins' article was pretty good, but Paula Kirby's is a close runner-up.

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/paula_kirby/2009/10/business_as_usual_for_vatican_enterprises_inc_1.html

[inverarity.livejournal.com]

Atheists don't hate God -- it makes no sense to hate something you don't believe in. That's not to say some atheists aren't hateful towards believers. But it's worth noting that Dawkins is a divisive figure even within the atheist community -- some atheists are all for being scornful and belligerent towards religion, others consider it counterproductive.

However, I think your analysis of Dawkins as being purely anti-Catholic is wrong. Of course in principle, the Church of England and the Catholic Church are equally misguided, from an atheist point of view, but the CoE is rather passive and almost secularized. Atheists in the U.S. are also more likely to become vitriolic about the RCC or Southern Baptists, who are much more active politically, than about Episcopalians or Methodists, who don't make such a habit of declaring atheists to be amoral deviants.

[affablestranger.livejournal.com]

Most atheists I know don't just not believe in any god or gods. They actively seem to have something against the notion of people believing in anything other than, well, nothing. They are actively anti-theist, most specifically anti-Christian. As you pointed out, they generally tend to leave Jews, Hindus, and others alone, singling out Christians almost exclusively.

[notebuyer.livejournal.com]

As someone who had been a member of the Episcopal Church for a long time, who finally had to go elsewhere or face the miseducation of my own kid, I was intrigued by the Pope's decision, and will follow closely how it is implemented, if it is, in my city, with a view to serious investigation. I like the Anglican liturgy enormously. I just had trouble with it as words spoken by those who disagreed with, or simply ignored, their meanings. But I noticed the flood of condemnation that the decision got, and noted that it came from people I think are worthwhile enemies, so therefore it must be worth investigating.

You have a key point in that anti-Catholic hatred is much more intense than hatred of Christianity generally -- to the point we see the various "crystal dragon Jesus" parodies in writers like Phillip Pullman. Which, in conjunction with the point noted above, makes me take it more seriously.

Everyone has a purpose. Richard Dawkins' purpose is "to serve as a bad example."

[fellmama.livejournal.com]

I assume you read my atheist rant from a few weeks ago. Inverarity's right that most atheist vitriol in the US isn't directed at the RC, but that's just a function of culture and location. I've long been of the belief that most atheists aren't actual atheists but rather firmly anti-Christian.

[luckymarty.livejournal.com]

The enduring strength of anti-Catholicism in Britain still surprises me when it comes to my attention.

In the U.S. today*, anti-Christian sentiment tends to focus more on "fundamentalists," which is more or less evangelical Protestant. Anti-Catholicism is more deeply rooted (we inherited it, after all), and I shouldn't be surprised if it lasts longer, but it's a good bit less vitriolic.

*At least in the upper Midwest where I live, and in the Establishment which no one can avoid. I understand old-fashioned anti-Catholicism still has some currency in the Old South, which would not be surprising on historic grounds. Surprisingly, anti-Catholicism does not seem to be a particularly salient feature of current anti-immigrant sentiment.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Dawkins has excoriated moderate believers often enough, for "aiding and abetting" the enemy; he'd go after the Anglicans with the right prompt, bishops in the House of Lords nad all. But at the same time he can see the differences, and the women- and gay-friendly Church of England is naturally more agreeable to his values than the Catholic Church.