Washington Post Supports Anti-Atheist Bigotry - Atheist Ethicist

[YankeyMCC]

This is just amazing, in a shitty kind of way:

(snip)
The King of Saudi Arabia wants to bring about peace in the Middle East by uniting the three Abrahamic religions – Christianity, Islam, and Judaism – against atheists.

According to the Times of London:

"If God wills it, we will then meet with our brothers from other religions, including those of the Torah and the Gospel to come up with ways to safeguard humanity," he added. The king, who is the guardian of the holy sites of Mecca and Medina, said the major faiths shared a desire to combat "the disintegration of the family and the rise of atheism in the world". . . . King Abdullah said "I have noticed that the family system has weakened and that atheism has increased. That is an unacceptable behavior to all religions, to the Koran, the Torah and the Bible.”

(snip)

(snip)
But . . . that’s not the news that caught my attention.

The Washington Post agrees. In an editorial called, “A Hint of Tolerance” , the Washington Post wrote:

Last week, Saudi King Abdullah delivered a little-noticed but potentially momentous statement calling for an interfaith dialogue among Saudi Muslims, Christians and Jews. Saying he had the support of the official Saudi clergy, King Abdullah said "the idea is to ask representatives of all monotheistic religions to sit together with their brothers in faith and sincerity to all religions as we all believe in the same god."
(snip)


http://atheistethicist.blogspot.com/2008/04/washington-post-supports-anti-atheist.html

As soon as I get some time today I'll be writing or calling the post for sure.

[trotsky]

1. Nothing unites the fundies like gays & atheists.

Can't say I'm totally shocked at the Post's response.

[YankeyMCC]

2. My letter to the Washington Post

Dear Washington Post Editor,

On Friday, April 4, 2008 you published an editorial titled "A Hint of Tolerance" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/03/AR2008040303534.html)

This is a rather ironic title given the subject matter of the piece. In the editorial the Saudi King is quoted as saying:

King Abdullah said "...the idea is to ask representatives of all monotheistic religions to sit together with their brothers in faith and sincerity to all religions as we all believe in the same god."

King's message leaves out the many people who follow a polytheistic religion, Hindu, pagan and Buddhists traditions for example, Not to mention other monotheistic religions that do not adhere to the bible, torah or Koran.

And his statement which you so wrongly called tolerant explicitly attacks people of no religion:

"I have noticed that the family system has weakened and that atheism has increased. That is an unacceptable behavior to all religions, to the Koran, the Torah and the Bible." said the King, explicitly vilifying atheists.

This statement is called by your editorial "momentous" and a "message of tolerance". This is akin to claiming a bigot of European descent issues a statement saying that people from Africa are morally equal but that people from Asia are still something less than human has delivered a "message of tolerance".

[and-justice-for-all]

3. "all religions as we all believe in the same god."

No they dont. xitians think they pray to a completly different deity, just ask a xtian what they think of Islam. They fundi here at work told me one day that "they should just bomb them(the muslim world) back to the stone age."

It is so funny that they want to protect what they have asolutly no evidence for. I never could understand that logic.

[vixengrl]

4. A hint and a miss!

I've often wondered if any two people, even sitting in the same pew, listening to the same sermon, have the same god, because belief is ultimately totally subjective. Everyone views things through their own prism of life experiences and thinks about things in their own way--atheists do so no less. I'd prefer people sit together as brothers in their shared humanity. "Combating the rise of atheism" means combating atheists, ourselves--is that a fatwa on us? Not exactly tolerant.

[moggie]

5. As Jon Stewart might say:

"Oh, atheists, is there no problem you can't solve?"

Cectic's take on it: