My professor (who is a Catholic deacon) spent the first two days of class bashing atheists and specifically, some well-known scientists and skeptics (Galileo and Dawkins to name a few), so in my first homework assignment, we had to write a "Spiritual Autobiography" this is a clip of what I included in it:
"I have to say that I respectfully disagree with the slides you showed the first day of class in regard to atheism. Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Chiang Kai-shek, Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Lenin, and Pol Pot did not kill people because they were atheist. They killed people because of their own radical dogma. Atheism does not have a dogma, a text, or a mission statement. There is no Church of the Atheist. Just as radical religious views can be deadly, so can radical non-religious views. Additionally, I highly doubt that all of the people who helped to carry out their atrocities were atheists as well. And, often times these leaders would invoke the name of "God" in order to get people to follow them. Religion can be a very helpful vehicle to perform both good and evil.
As for the chart you showed that seemed to say that religious people were morally superior to atheists and less religious persons, I must respectfully disagree once more. I think there is something to say about those who do good things for the sake of doing good things, and those who do things so that they can avoid punishment in the "afterlife." So overall, I must respectfully disagree. I think that you may have given atheists and agnostics an unfair shake on the first day of class."
Anyway, I turned in that paper today. But GUESS WHAT!!!
The ongoing assault continued today...
For starters, here's a quote he showed the class on the big screen:
"Science is much closer to myth than a scientific philosophy is prepared to admit. It is one of the many forms of thought that have been developed by man, and not necessarily the best. It is conspicuous, noisy, and impudent, but it is inherently superior only for those who have already decided in favor of a certain ideology, or who have accepted it without ever having examined its advantages and limits." ~ Paul Feyerabend
Immediately, I thought to myself... well that would sound right if you replaced the word "science" with the word "religion."
Let's have a look shall we:
"Religion is much closer to myth than a religious philosophy is prepared to admit. It is one of the many forms of thought that have been developed by man, and not necessarily the best. It is conspicuous, noisy, and impudent, but it is inherently superior only for those who have already decided in favor of a certain ideology, or who have accepted it without ever having examined its advantages and limits." ~ Me
Continuing on (It gets MUCH worse)...
Although the course I am in is titled Religion, Media & Communication and falls under the Journalism and Mass Communications title at the University I attend, I have yet to hear anything other than religious indoctrination, bad science, and unfounded opinion from my professor. Keep in mind that I attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. This is NOT a private school.
After taking the first two days of class to bash atheists and force his moral beliefs on us, my professor continued on today with more preaching (he is an ordained deacon in the Catholic church after all).
Today's offensive topics: God is the only way to peace, abortion is always wrong, and gay marriage leads to polygamy, incest, and pedophilia. I am paying to hear this crap?
Today my professor uttered the following words and immediately thereafter drew this diagram on the board:
"Because I am Catholic, I believe that human beings have a deep obligation to search for truth." Then, continuing on moments later he stated, "God is truth, so anyone searching for truth is trying to find God. God is love."
Diagram:
Humility & Love ---> Truth --->Justice--->Peace
He says that humility and love lead to truth. And truth (if you are paying attention here), as he said above is "God." Thus part of the lesson today was to tell the kids in the class that God is the only vehicle that can take us to justice and peace.
It gets worse.
Next he told us that the majority of Americans think that there should NEVER be an abortion, under any circumstance, once the baby's heart starts to beat. He continued on to say that there should be no debate over when life begins because "science has said for 100 years that life begins at conception."
It gets worse.
He then clearly ignored any instruction on logic or logical fallacies as he applied a slippery slope argument, while lecturing to the class of 45 students, to say that same-sex marriage is something that we can not allow. Continuing further, he likened same-sex marriage to that of polygamy and even a incestuous and potentially pedophilia-centered marriage between a father and his own daughter.
In an ominous tone, he asked the class if they truly wanted polygamy, incest and pedophilia, because that's what they would get if they were in favor of same-sex marriages.
For those of you who don't know me. I am openly homosexual. I have been in a relationship for almost 1 year. We plan on moving and getting married. And my heart almost exploded when he said this.
I tried to calm down. I raised my hand and said, "I have to disagree with you because what you just used to make your point was a slippery slope which, in a philosophy of logic course, is considered a logical fallacy. So I have to say that I disagree." What I really wanted to do was either walk out, or just punch the man in the face.
He essentially ignored what I said and continued on telling the class that he was right. I stopped listening to him for the rest of class. I should have walked out.
