It seems it only takes heather and myself being away for a few days before the loonies in Britain feel it is safe to crawl out from under their rocks.

On Saturday, the BBC reported that the well known (*) Dr Barry Morgan had joined the fray in the ongoing War Against Atheism:

The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, has described a rise in “fundamentalism” as one of the great problems facing the world.

He focused on what he described as “atheistic fundamentalism”.

He said it led to situations such as councils calling Christmas “Winterval”, schools refusing to put on nativity plays and crosses removed from chapels.

Absolute blithering nonsense. This is simply ignorant rubbish being thrown around by an almost unheard of member of the Church.

While it is true that some councils have tried to re-define the Christmas period and its (pagan originated) celebrations but not one of them is doing it because of pressure (real or imagined) from atheists. The sad reality is that some, misguided, councils are so wrapped up preventing the most hypersensitive minority-group person from being offended they will bend over backwards to change things. Even Christians on the councils go out of their way to to make sure the festival is as inoffensive as possible. Sadly, despite the UK having a non-theist majority, the feelings of Atheists is not the issue.

For some reason, certain councils in the UK feel that Christmas will be offensive to non-Christian religious groups and as a result they try to tone down what is perceived as the Christian input into the celebration. To date, I have heard of no Muslim, Hindu, Atheist or Jain (**) who has complained about Christmas. Now, I am sure there are some – just as the BNP(***) get uptight about Eid or whatever – who get upset about Christmas but they are certainly not the segments which should be pandered to.

Even as a Devout Atheist, I would be equally upset if a Muslim (or Hindu etc) group cancelled a festival of their own because of pressure from organisations like the National Front…

Until recently I had assumed that the War on Atheism was almost uniquely American, but in recent weeks it seems that the British churches (of all flavours) are doing their utmost to heap scorn upon Atheists and blame them for the worlds problems.

Back to Dr Morgan. Amazingly he is sometimes correct (but not very often):

In his Christmas message, the archbishop said: “Any kind of fundamentalism, be it Biblical, atheistic or Islamic, is dangerous.”

Correct, with limits. Atheism isn’t a religion. There is no Atheist fundamentalism.

The archbishop said “atheistic fundamentalism” was a new phenomenon.

Incorrect in that atheist fundamentalism doesn’t exist. Atheism is certainly not new.

He said it advocated that religion in general and Christianity in particular have no substance, and that some view the faith as “superstitious nonsense”.

Again, partially correct. Religion has no substance and faith is superstitions nonsense. Christianity is not singled out.

As well as leading to Christmas being called “Winterval,” the archbishop said “virulent, almost irrational” attacks on Christianity led to hospitals removing all Christian symbols from their chapels, and schools refusing to allow children to send Christmas cards with a Christian message.

This is not the work of Atheists. I wish it was because then it would show “atheism” was a strong enough force in the largely secular country in which I live to make a difference. Sadly we Atheists (and Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims etc.) are still controlled by Christian laws and values. Does that not seem odd when you hear all these Bishops bleating about how powerful the Evil Atheist Overlords are?

He also said it led to things like “airlines refusing staff the freedom to wear a cross round their necks” – a reference to the row in which British Airways (BA) suspended an employee who insisted on wearing a cross necklace.

Again, absolutely NOTHING to do with Atheism. This was because airline regulations said no jewellery was allowed to be worn by any staff. Notice how the Archbishop has twisted the whole issue to make it seem like the fact it was a cross was the important part – implying if she had worn an Atheist necklace she would have been allowed to carry on working. Lying for Jeebus is still lying, Archbishop.

All in all, it is ironic that the Archbishop feels able to talk on topics he is so painfully ignorant about. It strikes me that the fear of Atheism is so great that he is willing to overlook the complete nonsense of what he is saying, ignore the fact it is other Abrahamic religions which are causing the most grief, and still try to rattle his sabre against the Atheist.

It is doubly ironic when you think that the Christmas festival people are trying to “save” as an integral part of British Christian culture is nothing of the sort. Still, Christians never really have a good grasp of history…

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(*) Yes, I am being sarcastic here.

(**) Dont worry, it is the only Donovan song I’ve ever liked.

(***) British National Party – right wing idiots.