I'm an atheist. I believe that we are in charge of our own destiny and that there is no all powerful creator up there running the show. That's my choice to believe that.
I fully believe in freedom of choice and if that means that you have religion in your life, be it Christianity, Hindusim, Buddism, whatever your particular choice may be, then you are free to have it. We each have the choice to decide who we are, what we do and whether we choose to believe in a particular religion or not.
I have in the past, I admit, occasionally made jokes about Easter on a social media site which at the time I thought was funny. It was, quite rightly, pointed out to me that the platform I was using had both non believers and believers there and perhaps my joke was out of taste. In hindsight it was out of taste, and wrong for me to say, and I'm sorry for it.
We need to respect other people's choices and not make fun of, or judge them. I wouldn't expect a Christian to come up to me and tell me I was going to burn in hell for being an atheist any more than I would expect an atheist to go up to a Buddist and start making jokes about them, and their religion. It's called mutual respect.
Recently though Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor crossed that line. He was quoted in saying that
"Secular values were behind the violence carried out in totalitarian states and some of the 20th century conflicts that have killed millions".
What I could say now is "People in glass houses should not throw sounds". I could then start naming various dictators and leaders who have themselves and through their actions killed millions, but I won't.
That sort of thing turns into a game of "Well he did that so I did this".
I suspect that the Cardinal is really actually angry because he doesn't have as much power and sway over people as he, and indeed the Church, once had.
No religion belongs in politics, healthcare and the way people can lead their lives. It may have been the ways things were done in the past, and indeed in some countries it still is, but in Great Britain you have people from many religions with different beliefs and you cannot have one rule for one, one rule for another.
That sort of thing turns into a game of "Well he did that so I did this".
I suspect that the Cardinal is really actually angry because he doesn't have as much power and sway over people as he, and indeed the Church, once had.
No religion belongs in politics, healthcare and the way people can lead their lives. It may have been the ways things were done in the past, and indeed in some countries it still is, but in Great Britain you have people from many religions with different beliefs and you cannot have one rule for one, one rule for another.
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