Is the catholic church a force for good?

[Lion IRC]

Atheist beliefs. Yep.

What did I just fucking say about telling me what I believe, god botherer?

Atheism is entitled to be considered a belief. I'm glad to see an atheist affirming this. Welcome to the belief party pal. Michel Onfray goes as far as to say atheism has a unique ''atheology''
Of course you need to persuade a lot of atheists that ''belief'' is the right word.
“Our belief is not a belief. Our principles are not a faith'' - Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

I have plenty of beliefs...

Yep. I know. Since you can't formally disprove the evidentiary basis of theism thats all you got left is a belief that God doesnt exist - and all the ensuing BELIEFS which necessarily arise from that original no-God hypothesis. (Eg. How we got here. Is the universe past-eternal? How long does it take for someone in a perpetually existent universe/multiverse to invent a time machine and why havent they done so yet?)

...[atheist beliefs] just happen to stem from rational thought, not meaningless dogma.

Well right back at ya. I am skeptical of the no-God hypothesis. I think atheism is irrational. But the difference between you and me is that I actually DO understand what atheism as an idea, consists of. The atheist worldview is not meaningless to me.

You on the otherhand, honestly admit that you dont understand theistic dogma. It's ''meaningless'' to you. So either someone hasnt explained it to you in a way you can grasp or you might not be capable of understanding it. (You certainly cant blame the dogma itself because heaps of people with a wide range of IQ's CAN understand it.)

There's a very easy way to discern between the Christian who momentarily lapses into sin and the sinner who is an atheist in disguise.

Only the Christian admits that what they did was a sin against God and accepts their punishment/repentance.

Heading into a no true scotsman fallacy there, but let's examine that: by your logic, the pope that just left was an atheist in disguise, given that he never accepted punishment for his part in the sex abuse scandals within his church. Interesting...

No, I'm not pleading the NTS fallacy.
I laid out a measurable way to differentiate between a) sinners who accept the existence of God and agree that they DID sin and b) atheists who have no intention of admitting either.

The Christian sinner, nonetheless agrees that the Church's biblical teaching on the sin which they committed is valid. They dont deny the sinfulness of their act in the eyes of God.

Of course, they are free to leave the Church and reject God in order to alleviate their conscience and continue doing what they wish liberated by their newly-adopted atheism. (Stop worrying. theres probably no afterlife. No God.)