Vatican walks back on Atheists can go to Heaven

Last week I praised the new Pope for reaching out to the Atheist community by saying that Atheists can be good people and that we could also go to Heaven. I praised him for sating that everyone had a duty to be good people. But now Vatican spokesman Rev. Thomas Rosica says not so fast, Atheists are still going to Hell.

So now we in the Reality Based Community are confused about what Catholics believe are the final resting places of our eternal souls. The reason we are confused is that the Pope is supposed to be the Vicar of Christ, in charge of the church, and infallible. So - what's up with the Vatican spokesman reversing what the Pope says? It looks to us on the outside like someone is pulling the Pope's strings.

Are we to believe that its God's will that priests who rape children are going to Heaven but Atheists who live good lives are going to Hell? Seriously? Seriously? Are you kidding me?

We the people of the Reality Based Community really really do not like it that the Vatican teaches Catholics that we are subhuman, that we are evil, and the we deserve death and eternal torture. I deeply resent that. The capital T Truth is that we are right and you are wrong. Truth and Reality are the same thing and when you turn your back on reality, reality might turn it's back on you. Those who pursue the understanding of Reality as it really is are by definition on the right path. So moral authority is with us, not you.

This is the 21st century, not the Middle Ages. It's time for Catholics to upgrade. It's time for all of humanity to commit to living in right relationship to Reality and believing in that which is actually real. Science is the new Bible. The Universe is God 2.0. Reality is my creator and without Reality I wouldn't be here. In my personal life I have made a sacred spiritual commitment to believe in anything that is actually true.

So I challenge Catholics to think. Is the Vatican telling you the Truth or are they just selling memberships in the afterlife? I have to say that I'm feeling a sense of profound disappointment in the Vatican having done the right thing and then talking it back because it hurts the Catholic brand.