Catholic Priest Wants to Work Together for Newtown; Edward Tarte Responds and is Met with Silence

December 27, 2012 By 17 Comments

[Link to video]

Filed Under: Edward Tarte, General 17 Comments
About Edward Tarte

I am age 78, once a Catholic priest for five years (in the 1960's), then a math teacher for 44 years up to the present day. I became an atheist a few years ago. My hobbies are music and chess.

  • Karen Locke

    You ROCK, Edward Tarte!

  • http://friendlyatheist.com Richard Wade

    Thank you Edward, for your excellent suggestion to TJ, for giving very practical help to the Newtown families. His reply of silence is disappointing but not surprising.

    I wonder if TJ and his flock consider actual, practical, physical, material, real-world help for the bereaved Newtown families to be “as filthy rags” when compared to the purity of their wishful prayers.

    I also wonder if they will be less willing or interested to help the Newtown families with money, now that they know that atheists suggested it and are doing it, even if they don’t have to give their money through the atheist organization. I hope they’re more mature than that.

  • MichaelBrice

    Of course he did not respond………..

    Prayers have no efficacy, money does, you don’t think he wanted to help demonstrate that fact do you?

    p.s. I really enjoy your vids, thanks.

  • http://boldquestions.wordpress.com/ Ubi Dubium

    Oh yes. “Why can’t we all just put aside our differences and get along!” usually translates to “Why can’t we all just get along, but I’m not going to change anything about what I’m thinking or doing. You guys change and then we’ll all get along.”

  • A3Kr0n

    Good ‘ole TJ. I’ll have to watch this tonight when I get home from work.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/chidy/ chicago dyke

    love your show, ET! you’re always so straightforward and logical.

    but really, it ‘breaks his heart?’ i just cannot understand how any catholic, let alone a priest, can claim to have any feelings at all for “the children.” give me a break. the catholic church’s pedophile protection racket is responsible for thousands of ruined lives, suicides, broken relationships… and the head of their organization is a gay-hating nazi. whatever, “father tj.” you have about as much moral authority as the guy who shot those kids.

  • rwlawoffice

    So after you call people of faith oppressors he fails to follow your suggestion and you view him as abandoning the idea that we should set aside our differences in the face of this tragedy? He set aside the differences when he ignored your attack and did not respond to it with his own. This appears to be an example of an atheist saying do it my way or no way. And what evidence do you have that all he did was suggest to his parishioners that all they should do is pray? There are plenty of Christian organizations providing relief to the victims of this tragedy.

    • coyotenose

      You’re postulating infantile, selfish behavior on the part of the theist and then defending it with schoolyard arguments. That’s actually a step up for you, so… congrats I guess?

      Oh wait no, my bad. You ignored 99% of Mister Tarte’s video and quote mined him. You’re a lying sack of shit.

      • Rwlawoffice

        I listened to the entire video. That is how I know how the conversation went. That is how I also know that the premise expressed by Tarte’s post was that after he made these comments and accusations about people of faith he made the suggestion to give to the atheist fund. And how he then expressed that he was met with silence when his suggestion was not followed. Really how is that quote mining? Its an honest assessment of the argument trying to be made by Tatre that religious people aren’t sincere when they say they want to work together. He views the Priest not taking his suggestion as proof of his premise.

        I honestly don’t know if you are that much of an idiot or if you will just try to respond in hate to all I post even if it makes you look like one. Oh and by the way you forgot to mention Uganda this time.

        • http://itsmyworldcanthasnotyours.blogspot.com/ wmdkitty

          Nope, you’re just a lying sack of shit. It’s not our fault you’re offended by truth…

          • Rwlawoffice

            How is what I said not the truth?

  • lorimakesquilts

    That pretty much sums up most religious charity — pray for those in need so I can feel better and not have to actually do anything.

  • Will

    To me it’s obvious that a priest will not advertise an atheist fund. At least not with such a name. You wouldn’t advertise a fund with christianity in the name as well. Just because they will take credit for the amount of money collected. This of course works both ways. I’m an atheist myself but please, be rational.

    • Artor

      You know, Hemant has collected money for churches right here on this site before. I think he’s pretty rational.

      • Will

        Which was caused by atheists to begin with and the only reason for this is to save our name. It is not the same thing, however it’s nice indeed.

        • http://itsmyworldcanthasnotyours.blogspot.com/ wmdkitty

          If you bother to look, they never did find the guy who did it. Assuming it was an atheist is just plain stupid. It could easily have been a disgruntled church member. It was likely just some jerkass teenager with no real idea what xe believes, religion-wise.

          On the other paw, if you have evidence that points to an atheist being the culprit, let’s see it. (And I mean evidence that isn’t, you know, commonly available knowledge on the internet that anyone could look up and use.)

          • Will

            If the text had said ‘Allah is great’, you guys wouldn’t have raised a penny. That’s the whole point, although we are getting of topic here.