Catholic Priest Responds to Richard Dawkins’ Comments

January 10, 2013 By 31 Comments

[Link to video]

Filed Under: Edward Tarte, General 31 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.

  • http://www.facebook.com/GreginND Greg Cook

    He said the story broke his heart. But it seems his heart was only broken because the family didn’t seem to be Catholic anymore. Not because of the moral quandary. It’s all about keeping the tithing flock.

    • Jasper

      That got me too. That combined with the 47 hours focusing on colloquial phrases, were just a bunch of deraillings. He had no concern that the priest was giving the family fatally deranged advice.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/GodVlogger?feature=mhee GodVlogger (on YouTube)

    I have followed the Father TJ issues via Edward Tarte’s YouTube channel. Now that I see Fr. TJ on video himself I am more sympathetic to him (but still find his superstitions just as unfounded as ever).

  • http://twitter.com/DragonkinSverd Steven Sword

    I, as most atheists, use “oh my god” in exclamation towards things I just can’t believe.

  • roberthughmclean

    I love how the priestly personage drops in a footy reference to start to apper cool and one of the “people”. He then retreats to absurdity when he opens his mouth and out pops the baby jesus and god nonsense. No “father”, the professor is the one with a brain, sadly you’ve obviously retired yours.

  • Skiavalanche

    The most amazing part for me is that father TJ says that the Catholic Church only does SOME good, therefore is not an evil organization. Funny how he didn’t say mostly good but only”some good.”

  • http://www.sunstonescafe.com/ Paul Sunstone

    I’ll give Father T.J. credit for recognizing that the life of the mother outweighs the Church’s prohibition on birth control. At least, I think that’s what he was getting at.

    Other than that, I think some of his comments bordered on the comical. For instance, his attempt to redefine what Professor Dawkins’ most likely meant by calling the Church “evil” probably amounts to no more than a straw man fallacy.

  • GeraardSpergen

    It wasn’t a quandary at all… there was a smart choice and the superstitious choice.

  • http://twitter.com/DarwinSelection Atheist Finch

    Edward is such a lovely man! I agree with everything he said.

    I wish people like the Catholic priest who spoke in the video would realize how patronizing they’re being when they suggest that atheists don’t know their own minds and hearts just because they use common phrases such as “heaven forbid” or “oh my god.” Should I suggest that he’s secretly an atheist because he appealed to reason and humanity in the mother’s case rather than toeing the church’s line on birth control? Of course not.

    • Baby_Raptor

      Yes. Yes, you should. Not only will the reaction be hilarious, there’s a small chance you might get through his head.

  • bernardaB

    What part of the Catholic dogma is not evil? Opposition to birth control is evil and especially third world women in Africa or Latin America suffer greatly because of the Church’s position. Why would a hypothetical god be against birth control?

    If you look hard enough, you might find something good about the Church, but it would be insignificant when compared to its major positions.

  • RobertoTheChi

    Soul crying out my ass. I say oh my god all the time and it certainly isn’t because my soul is crying out. I say holy shit a lot too, but I’m not referring to the sanctity of shit. He is really grasping at straws.

    • allein

      I’m partial to “holy fucking hell”…what does that say about me?

      • RobertoTheChi

        I’m partial to” jesus fucking christ on a crutch” and I sometimes like to switch up crutch with bicycle. I’m sure the good father would pull some asinine reason out of his holy ass for this.

        • allein

          Then there’s always Penny’s “Holy crap on a cracker!” from BBT. :)
          (Wait, does “holy hell” mean I worship Satan or something?)

          • RobertoTheChi

            I think it does mean you worship Satan, but only because you’re being stubborn like a child and turning your back on jebus. I know and the good father knows that you really believe in gawd and jebus. We all have a gawd shaped (riding on a bicycle) hole in our heart. ;-)

            • allein

              Damn.

  • not-a-yank

    NEWSFLASH: Preacher makes stuff up as he goes along.

    LOL! That’s old news.

  • Jasper

    Apparently Darth Vader isn’t evil.

  • Anonymous

    This is why I’m careful to use expletives like “Vulcan’s cock!” or “Sweet Odin on a pogo stick!”

    • http://twitter.com/docslacker MD

      I’m partial to “Holy Buttocks!”

    • Tainda

      I say “Holy Fuckballs” a lot but I know fuckballs aren’t holy…

  • Douglas Arvidson

    The source of moral behavior does not come from religion. The source of moral behavior is the evolution-driven need to help each other if we are to survive as a species. Hence the success, thus far. of human beings. The positive, altruistic aspects of religion merely reflect this.

  • dewNOTbelieve

    I bet that this priest regularly refers to the days of the week. What significance should we ascribe to his regular invocation of the names of the Norse gods Tyr, Odin, Thor, and Freya? Or does he prefer to be though of as a planet worshipper on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday? Even the weekly holy day of his own religion doesn’t refer to his own god! What should we think about that?

  • baal

    Still too much ‘insane clown posse’ visual impact from this priest. Really, the black pits for eyes look is not a good one.

  • SuperAsianSalsero

    So….what does “HOLY SHIT!” imply? Silly priest.

  • Barefoot Bree

    I freely admit that I’m hypersensitive to this issue because of my background – survivor of a marriage to a verbally abusive man. One of an abuser’s favorite and most effective tricks is to pronounce what was actually going on in their victim’s mind (inevitably evil or malicious), blithely ignoring all contrary evidence and protestations of innocence or twisting it into evidence *for* their position.

    The priest’s supposition that an atheist using OMG or “heaven forbid” to be their soul “crying out for God” strikes me as more of the same. How DARE you presume to tell me what I “really” think or believe? Take a good look at your own self, *sir*.

  • Chopp

    Right, because non-english speakers that don’t use “oh my god” are clearly not feeling god in their hearts.

  • http://twitter.com/CatherineD_tcp Catherine Dunphy

    According to the priest, the mom in the story was acting as her conscious dictated, which is correct according to Vatican II, therefore her decision to get her tubes tided was “ok” with god (lucky her), and the church. However after his introductory comments he begins to slide down hill and his comments reek of cognitive dissonance as he tries to leap the chasm between theology and reason. He makes an effort, but not at the cost of seeing his church without rose coloured glasses.

  • Ray

    I guess according to TJ that Hitler was not evil. After all he must have done at least one good thing in his life.

  • Carmelita Spats

    Mr. TJ (he’s not a “father” unless he keeps that quiet for professional reasons) claims that the Catholic Church “helps the poor”. This is a LIE. I grew up in a Catholic country, in Latin America, and I witnessed/experienced the Catholic Church as an organized crime syndicate that EXPLOITS people’s misery like a multi-tentacled corporation, under the disturbing guise of “redemptive suffering”, in order to misappropriate wealth, influence and gorge itself, tick-like, on the lifeblood of an impoverished nation….its land.

    If the RCC were SERIOUS about “helping the poor” in my country, they would CEASE to protest birth control campaigns in rural areas of Mexico. They would cease to condemn women, poor Mexican women, to a livestock version of compulsory reproduction. The church organizes protests outside of health clinics that distribute CONDOMS! The church is NOT about “helping the poor” nor does it care about “the transmission of life”. The RCC is an organized crime syndicate obsessed with the transmission of death. Mr. TJ can rot in his imaginary hell along with Pope Bendmydick XVI.