Humanism, atheism and other freedoms

A group of Christians is working hard to bring about the deaths of members of an organisation dedicated to protecting the US Constitution. Wiley Drake, a Southern Baptist pastor, is leading his flock in so-called imprecatory prayers – or curses, if you prefer – as part of an attack against Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

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In our last instant of life, I have a hunch that we all have a moment of revelation. And I think it is this: it’s all over, there’s nothing else.

Even those people who might have been screaming for a priest a minute before, who might have seen the white light approaching (a common phenomenon with near-death experiences and therefore almost certainly some neurological effect), who have even uttered the name of their favourite deity or prophet – yes, even these people must know as the final few cells shut down that it is all over. No heaven. No hell. No harps or virgins. No coming face to face with Jesus.

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The Inquisition is not over. Faith continues to kill and torment. In Africa, for instance, witch hunts are causing mothers to turn against their children. Even babies are being brutalised and murdered. But this is not driven by some Dark Continent cult: this is fundamentalist Christianity at work.

Professor Richard Dawkins’ appearance on the BBC’s Have Your Say programme prompted Father Jonathan Morris, Fox News’ religious attack poodle, to dredge up the old and insupportable myth that Stalin and Hitler killed millions in the name of atheism. (Catholic priests and Fox News presenters are, of course, both accustomed to spouting insupportable myths.)

This is a standard and intellectually dishonest knee-jerk response to an inescapable truth: that throughout its history, Christianity has been responsible for widespread death and misery. The Inquisition comes immediately to mind. That said, today we most frequently associate religiously inspired murder and violence with Islam. Aside from Islamic-inspired terrorism, brutal, so-called ‘honour’ killings are shamefully frequent in places like Pakistan and even among Islamic communities in more enlightened countries, such as the UK. A recent report in The Guardian highlighted the murders and burnings of women in Iraq, now that Islam can use the chaos of that benighted country to reassert its atavistic influence.

But Christianity has not finished killing.

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