IN THEORY:

Pope Benedict XVI last week issued an encyclical condemning atheism for leading to some of the “greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice.” His “Saved by Hope” document also argued modern Christianity has strayed from its roots of caring for others to focus on individual salvation. Benedict says it’s wrong to try to eliminate the world’s troubles. “We must do all we can to overcome suffering, but to banish it from the world is not in our power. Only God is able to do this,” he wrote. What do you think of the Pope’s views on injustice?

The relentless vision of hope that Pope Benedict XVI gives in his encyclical, “Spe Salvi,” is a predominant theme of Christians who are observing this season of Advent in preparation for Christmas.

A principal character in the Advent drama is the prophet Isaiah, who transmits God’s self communication of a promise of hope for a people living in the midst of struggle. Isaiah encourages his audience in announcing that a mere orchard will be regarded as a forest, the deaf will hear, the blind will see, and the poor will rejoice.

But what is the grounding for such reckless hope in the presence of injustice? The Pope replies that it is ultimately only God who can achieve justice.

We sometimes assert that in desperation: “only God knows,” “this would take an act of God,” and, after all, we are “only human.”

This is the Holy Father’s point. We cannot save ourselves. We are nothing without God. But, God is real and present, and He wills a new era of peace and reconciliation, of prosperity and harmony, of justice and mercy that only He can bring about. The coming of Jesus into the world, which is the event of Christmas, is His definitive act of saying that He desires to establish a kingdom of peace and justice. And He knows what He is doing!

Monsignor Lawrence J. Baird

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church

Newport Beach

It is absurd of the Pope to condemn atheism as leading to cruelty and injustice. If anything, the dogma of theism is what leads to that, as the Inquisition proved, while atheism is simply the absence of theism.

It’s wrong to say atheism is bad because Stalin was an atheist and did bad things. He was not about to share power with any theist organization, as had been common in Christian-dominated countries.

He was not following any atheist doctrine; he was just insuring maximum personal power. Atheists are generally honorable people who simply don’t want to be told that they have to follow some particular religious doctrine that makes no sense except to the believers of a particular religion or sect.

Some other thoughts relative to issues the Pope raised:

Hitler was not an atheist, and he did a lot of evil things.

Contrary to what the Pope said, we would be better off putting our hope for the future in science and technology.

We do not need God to have hope. We do not need to believe in an afterlife to function properly in this life.

The idea that we must simply learn to accept pain and suffering rather than trying to do something about it is absurd. That is like Mother Teresa telling those she was supposedly helping that they must simply learn to accept their problems, while she had received such huge donations to help those people.

She could have easily paid for the proper medical procedures needed by many of those patients, but apparently she sent those donations on to Rome for the greater glory of the Vatican. Is that being saintly or just buying sainthood?

Jerry Parks

Member

Humanist Assn. of Orange County

God has no body on earth now but ours. Ours are the eyes and ears through which God is compassionate and empathetic, ours are the hands and feet with which God does good and blesses people presently.

This wisdom, expressed much more eloquently by Saint Teresa of Avila, means that God can work through all people to improve this world. “All people” includes popes and the impious, people with faith in God and those who do not believe in God. All of us must do our part to bring peace with justice.

The Very Rev’d Canon Peter D. Haynes

Saint Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church

Corona del Mar