Five Things Believers Can Do That Atheists Can't
By - Dean Van Drasek
Atheists miss out on a lot of activities that religious believers can participate
in. Let’s go through the list, and see what you think:
1. Child Molestation
If you read the news at all, you have seen nation after nation finally
recognize that many Catholic priests abused, molested and in some cases,
raped children. This was often done over a protracted period. Very few of the
perpetrators have been jailed (oftentimes because of the applicable statute
of limitations), although many Catholic dioceses have had to pay significant
settlements, usually on an out-of-court basis. All too often, the offenders
were not turned over to the police, even though the higher authorities within
the church knew their crimes. In some cases, repeat offenders were just
transferred from one position to another. The senior leaders who were
responsible for the cover-ups have, so far, escaped justice altogether.
Fundamentalist groups often follow strict observance of physical punishment
for children. These are the “spare the rod, spoil the child” types. Many
Christians consider it their duty to apply corporal discipline to children. Some
regard this practice to be imbued by the taint of “original sin.” Every year,
we see reports of children brutalized under this doctrine (although some
parents are being prosecuted now if the harm is too egregious).
Jews and Muslims also ritually mutilate their sons’ bodies through the
practice of circumcision. If an atheist sliced off the ear tips of their children,
on the basis that kids never properly wash their ears, what would be the
response? Just because someone claims that their god told them more than
1,000 years ago to mutilate their son’s penis, that makes it ok? We even
allow Orthodox Jews to perform a ritual that involves the mohel, a
“professional” practitioner of the circumcision ritual, to draw blood from the
newly circumcised child by using his mouth. I can’t see an atheist putting his
mouth on a 8 day old boy’s penis and not going to jail.
2. Animal Cruelty
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