"Somebody asked me about the Pope's survey in a personal message. I realize that there are people at Mudcat that seek to prevent rational discussion of religious issues because they are certain that all religion is bad and all religious people are stupid, but nonetheless I think that this is a good thing to talk about."

Joe, this is a form of proselytizing. No rational discussion of religion can be realized if you are certain that there are people on Mudcat who are in turn certain that religious people are stupid. This is a form of intimidation. Religion has a history of intimidating non-believers by using erstwhile public media for their own agenda.

The Pope may be a nice guy but he represents an institution that enslaves women, prohibits birth control and contraception, and the institution chastises non-believers and ostracizes those who don't espouse their beliefs. The theory of "just wars" is a Catholic precept and establishes a rationale for war which is unjustified particularly when the Church has committed it historically.

"To my mind, Steve, you are obsessed with ideology. If people don't live up to your standards of right-thinking, you see them as evil."

Joe, you appear to be obsessed with Catholic ideology otherwise you wouldn't have offered this post.

I am a non-believer who has never said that religious people are stupid. I have kept my remarks to the institution of religion itself, not the people who believe in it. If you profess to "hate the sin and not the sinner", then I have every right to dislike the institution rather than the people who believe in it. That's only fair.