I love how Catholic leaders are being forced to deal with the so-called New Atheism in public nowadays. But they’re going overboard. Usually we’re just accused of being mean to people. Now Archbishop Anthony Fisher is saddling us with the collective baggage of the 20th century. It’s not a new tactic, but one would think a Catholic archbishop would be a mite careful about criticising another philosophy for rotten things done in its name. Sadly, irony doesn’t seem to be his strong point.

GODLESSNESS and secularism led to Nazism, Stalinism, mass murder and abortion, according to Anthony Fisher, the new Archbishop of Parramatta, who has used his inaugural Easter message to launch a scathing attack on atheism, while ignoring the sex abuse scandals besieging the Catholic Church worldwide.

It’s a bit rich for a Catholic archbishop to be claiming Nazism is a consequence of atheism. Hitler was a Catholic, and was never excommunicated. The failure of Pope Pius XII to act during the Holocaust is a modern tragedy, and it’s telling that the current pope has venerated him, a step on the road to sainthood.

How anyone can claim Hitler was an atheist is beyond me. He said in speeches that he felt he was doing God’s work. Maybe Hitler didn’t believe it. Maybe he was hypocritically mouthing religious platitudes to get people to agree with him. All the more reason to be suspicious of politicians who claim to be religious. But Hitler did claim to be on the side of the Big Guy. Check out the belt buckle for one example. If your German is as rusty as mine, here’s a hint: “Gott Mit Uns” does not mean “We have gloves on”.

That’s Hitler. But what about Stalin and Pol Pot, and the terrible things they did in the name of atheism? Oh, that’s right, they didn’t do those things in the name of atheism. They did them in the name of Communism and the Khmer Rouge. Though they were atheists, the atrocities they committed were done to further their political goals, not to promote atheism.

I’m not trying to say that atheists can’t do rotten things. Anyone can when they’re in the grip of an absolutist philosophy, whether religious or political. But name me anyone who’s killed people or started a war to promote secular rationalism. No one does. It just isn’t in our line.

For the record, I don’t blame Catholicism or Christianity for mass murder either (except in those cases where an ideological link can be made). People seem to pick up these ideologies and use them for their own ends, and it’s a shame. Someday maybe someone will shoot up a high school and claim it was for atheism. It never seems to happen — violent ideologies seem to be religion-based more often than not — but it might someday. If it does, I’ll say the same thing I’m saying today: inflexible ideologies in the hands of unbalanced people are a problem. But that doesn’t describe your average New Atheist, who usually just wants to talk about secular issues (often at a pub), and who doesn’t believe in supernatural beings without adequate evidence.

At least Fisher didn’t accuse atheists of systematic child sex abuse. That would have been a giveaway.

UPDATE: Atheists hit back.

The Atheist Foundation of Australia said on Friday Dr Jensen’s claims were “preposterous” and condemned Christianity for a spate of child sex abuse scandals.

“He seeks out a scapegoat and attacks atheism without any understanding of what he is saying,” foundation president David Nicholls said.

“To state we hate his god or are attacking his god is nonsense.

“How does one hate or attack that which does not exist?”