Vatican considers atheism: Monopoly of virtue refuted

It is an unfortunate fact that religious extremism, anti-religious extremism too, has been at the root of tremendous bloodshed. Like any extremism, religious extremism seems to encourage a certainty that often becomes a justification for atrocity. The evidence is overwhelming and, tragically, accumulates every day.

Religious extremism plays out in other ways too. Last week’s vote on divorce was made necessary by the legacy of religious autocracy. Another legacy is the unquestioned and unsustainable belief that those without religious belief cannot be moral, decent people. Even the phraseology is loaded negatively — those who reject religion are described as non-believers as if they had failed.