Pope Benedict

Ok, my father sent me this link from the BBC that really "chaps my hide." It states that Pope Benedict has attacked atheism in his latest encyclical. The Pope says atheism is responsible for some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" in history. Apparently, he has decided to completely ignore the Crusades, the Inquisition, much conquering, enslavement and murder of new-world Indians, and the Roman Catholic Croatian massacre of Serbs (Orthodox Christians), Jews, gypsies, and Communists during WWII. Maybe he just means more recent history. Oh, wait. Apparently he doesn't consider the molestation of children by men they were taught to trust from infancy cruel OR a violation of justice. Maybe that explains why the Catholic church covered it up for as long as possible.

And those are only the Roman Catholic church. I won't even go into Catholics and Protestants killing each other or things that have been done in the name of other Christian denominations (of course many Christian fundamentalists don't consider Catholics to be Christians).

Alternately, I would like the Pope to name ANY cruelty or violation of justice caused by atheism.

Click here to view the actual encyclycal (in English).
Now I can't get Mel Brook's song, The Inquisition out of my head...