You fail to mention the good the Catholic Church does with its many hospitals, shools and charitable Organizations. I am sure many an atheist has used the Catholic hospital.

You fail to mention the decades old and still happening now stealing of babies in a Catholic hospital in Spain perpetrated by preists and nuns.

You fail to mention the decades of child abuse, molestation and brainwashing of young boys.

Flashback,I will not defend the many wrongs that the Catholic Church has done or allowed over the centuries. This subject is supposed to be about Atheists and the election of the next Pope. I don't know what an atheist is so why don't we stick to the subject matter. Very simply put, are you a so called atheist? If so, prove that there is no supreme being. Also, if you aren't Catholic, why should you even care who the next Pope will be.

It's always amusing that those who deny the existence of God seem to feel free to speak for Him.......

I'm anti organized religion where men control any contact with a god. I'm against a religion that has stifled societal and scientific advances almost at every step. I'm against a religion that forces itself on others regardless of religion or non-religion. I'm against a religion that claims to be inclusive while it excludes anyone that doesn't agree with them. I'm against ignorance, which religion keeps its members as in order to maintain its political, financial and societal control over them. The catholic church, of which I was a member and maintain weekly contact with a leader of, was born not of religion but of the need for men to control men, to gain power and wealth. It fervently provides fables as fact without offer of proof yet demands proof of a negative, which is impossible, as anyone with a junior high education knows. I left this church when I reached the age of reason and gained the ability to think for myself. When my questions went unanswered simply because to answer truthfully the answer would not be what the church teaches but rather what the church would rather never be known.

If as stony and many people on this board and in our country say that all members of the NRA are gun nuts then all members of the catholic church are baby stealing, murdering, pedolphiles.

Ted - you opened the discussion up to the absolutely evil things the church has done or sanctioned by bringing up the very good things the church has done. This thread wasn't about atheists. It was about the workings of the church.

ALL organized religions meet the definition of a cult. Some have just been around longer or have gained more power.

I didn't open anything. It was you and Stony who went off on the Church. The post was about the election of the pope and atheists. Amen. According to you, you are anti anything that has to do with men in power or controll. You might just as well live up the mountains like a hermit. Your reasoning is flawed.

The OP was not about the pope and atheists.

My reasoning is only flawed to you in that it disagrees with yours. Did I say I didn't like men in power? No. Did I say I didn't like men in control? No. What I said was that I didn't like organized religion that veiled their power grabs in lofty fables, lies and fiction. What I said I didn't like was the hypocrits sitting in church praying under the control of men that condone and actively hide the evil within.

I guess we differ. You are all over the place, I'm sorry. I just read the first post and I don't understand where you are coming from. I think it is all a figment of an overstretched imagination.

Denial of religion's evil is just stupid. Everything I've said can be and has been confirmed. And I've stayed the course throughout this conversation.

Confirm your god.

Flashback, if you have a problem with religion that is your problem. Whatever you believe or don't is fine with me as long as you don't bother me. I really don't care why you left your religion.
As far as those pedophile priests or any pedophiles, I would have them all castrated if it were up to me.
Remember, a person of the cloth is still nothing but human. They are no better than you or I.