How Many Scots Are Good Without God?

Reading a random article about the Pope…

The Pope is visiting Scotland…

He admits there are child molesters within the church hierarchy..

Nothing new…

I’ve heard all this before…

Holy crap.

There are about 850,000 Catholics in Scotland, according to the 2001 U.K. Census, but 27 percent of Scots — about 1.5 million — did not register a religion or said they were atheists.

Detractors such as the Humanist Society of Scotland believe people are indifferent to the papal visit because of the church scandals and growing secularism.

“The notion that it was the atheism of Nazis that led to their extremist and hateful views or that somehow fuels intolerance in Britain today is a terrible libel against those who do not believe in G.god,” [sic] the group said Thursday in a statement.

The group placed billboards along the route the pope will take between Edinburgh and Glasgow that read: “Two million Scots are good without God.”

How did I not hear about this?!

That. Is. Awesome.

I’m sure the response will be even more vociferous when the Pope gets to England.

(Thanks to Todd for the link!)

Reginald Selkirk

How Many Scots Are Good Without God?

All of them, since God doesn’t exist.
The "Eh"theist

Within the next decade you’ll see Ireland trend the same way-the incredible public hypocrisy of the catholic hierarchy in Ireland has ensured that.
Revyloution

The fact that you didn’t hear about it is good news. When all this started, you could get all your prominent atheist news by checking in once a month. The movement is getting so large, that it’s a daily task to just keep up with all the developments.

Secularism is becoming a ‘thing’. It’s going to be real interesting to see where it goes, and what it becomes.
Blasphemy is a victimless crime

Only 2 million?
If our northern friends are anything like us in England then I would imagine the number is a lot higher but people who where christened/baptised but have never actually believed/lost their faith unthinkingly ticked the Christian box on the census.
Christina M.

Yet one more reason I’m proud to be married to a man of Scottish decent. Hemant, we have real Scottish kilts if you want pictures!
Sackbut

“Ah, but no TRUE Scotsman is good without God.”

Sorry, that was too good a set-up.
ethanol

Dammit Sackbut, you beat me to it
marxamod

What, no comment on this yet?

http://richarddawkins.net/articles/518808-pope-s-holyroodhouse-speech-transcript/comments?page=1#comment_518842

I saw him twice today, pretty sure that means I’m going to heaven. That or my errands were severely interrupted by road closures. Mostly the second.
Bill

The bloody bloody bloody Pope. Just been reading The Guardian which quotes him as basically saying atheists are equally dangerous as Nazis. He says we deny common humanity and then mentions the holocaust. He KNOWS he is a liar, he KNOWS he is making this shit up. I fkn hate him right now. PZ over on Pharyngula has already laid into him about this. Disgusting, disgusting little man (Rat-boy, not PZ).
Humanisto

Glad you got to hear about this, Hemant. The only reason it’s new to you is that the campaign only launched in Glasgow on Monday, so 4 days is not too bad for word of mouse. We want everyone to share this on their facebook page so we can get more visitors today than the Pope got at his mass – not impossible!
Richard Wade’s Evil Twin

Sackbut,

Ooh laddie, a true Scotsman dannae care a hoot about some spook telling him to be good or nae. He’ll be good if he wants, and bad if he wants, and he’ll do a better job of either than any other man.

And that bairn-buggerin’ pope can take his sagging crucifix and shove it all the way up his bahookey, spin it around a few times and pull it out again while singing “Loch Lomond” for all we care, the gilded tattyboggle. We willnae pay him no mind and no money.
BonnieBeth

*waves tiny flag*

(ZOMG<3 @ RWETwin!)
Bill

@Richard Wade’s Evil Twin – while I applaud your lucid attack on the bairn-buggerer I am araid to say that if you pay taxes in the UK then you have already paid towards the skelpit-erse faced boaby-heid’s visit there.
ED…

What does good mean?
Richard Wade’s Evil Twin

Bill,
Damn and blast! We’ve been bumped! A pox on them all, the ring kissing mass monkeys! They may take our taxes, but they’ll never take our freedom!
muggle

The Nazi dares to compare Atheists to Nazis? Sounds like deflection to me!

Dude, give up the fucking misdirection, we know and you, Mr. Youth Guard, know very goddamned well what side of the Nazi question the Catholic church came down on. No wonder they think nothing of protecting child rapers.
MH

When someone trots out an ad hominem attack such as equating atheists with Nazis, it means he doesn’t have anything more convincing to say. This is something of an admission that he’s losing.

He’s fearful of increasing secularism in the West and the loss of the church’s power. He can trout out junk like that, but it won’t stem the tide of people leaving his church.
Richard Wade

I do find it amazing that the Ratzinger even mentions the Nazis for any reason. He’s just begging for references to his youth. Then to say that the Nazis were atheists also invites embarrassing contradictions from historians, and accusations of flat-out lying. Where are this celebrity’s handlers? They’re supposed to keep his foot from choking him.
Richard Sinclair

I can’t wait until we get back to the good old days of Lenin and Stalin, when we can start torturing and murdering people of faith again. Plus the sign is grossly in error. Atheists in Scotland only number a bit over a hundred thousand. Just because someone does not state a religious preference doesn’t make them an atheist.
Anna

I can’t wait until we get back to the good old days of Lenin and Stalin, when we can start torturing and murdering people of faith again.

Ah, yes, because criticizing the Pope is exactly like torturing and murdering innocent people. Glad you cleared that up for us. It’s not like there could possibly be valid reasons to criticize the head of a corrupt, homophobic, misogynistic organization that has been involved in covering up a sex abuse scandal of massive proportions.
Rab Corbett

talk straight out your arse, the ammount of non religious people in scotland far outnumber the religious. its ridiculous to even claim otherwise and is a breach of the 9th. but christians love to lie for jesus. ive met less than 10 people in y life who believe in skyfairies and not one of them pray or go to church so they never even realised they were apparently going to that hell place that got added at a later date to that fairytale.
Nixon isLord

So when will you get rid of your “National Church” and separate church and state?