Peace: the church pushed for peace between principalities. Islam's notable for stressing nonviolence between fellow believers (at least, outside of fundamentali

Peace: the church pushed for peace between principalities. Islam's notable for stressing nonviolence between fellow believers (at least, outside of fundamentalists, whose hypernarrow interpretation of their holy texts arguably makes them more of a deviant cult than fellow believers). Though even Buddhism isn't without its history of violence, humans being what they are, it is explicitly a religion of pacifism. Life: The practice of medicine was often spearheaded by the churches. Most religions mandate successful propagation and child-rearing. The Judeochristian religions in particular stresses that to save one life is equivalent to saving all lives. Acceptance, tolerance and openness: A progressive thing; the idea of trans-societal equality can be said to originate from the idea that all are equal before the eyes of the faith's deity. Buddhism especially, even without a deity, puts emphasis not on material wealth or power but the attainment of personal enlightenment, regardless of background. Women's rights: Surprisingly true. Islam in earlier centuries actually spearheaded the idea of women having innate rights, even if said rights were often inferior to those of men. Buddhism, again, puts no special emphasis on gender. The Tao considers male and female to be equals of different properties. Advancement of sciences: The Church outright /funded/ many pioneering scientists and experiments, if they weren't involved outright in its process. Mendel's studies of genetic inheritance was done as a monk. The Vatican was responsible for postulating the Big Bang theory of universal origin. Many scientists see their profession as a way to better understand the mind and intent of their deity. Art: If you think I'm just talking about the stuff commissioned by the Vatican, you are /sorely/ mistaken. And Eurocentric too, so double-shame on you. The history of art is nearly inseparable from the history of religion - and the first forms of art were often means of religious expression. Pithy sayings are just pithy sayings. It takes a bad man in good clothing to profess piety and pacifism on one hand and victimize with the other. What your quote describes is "hypocrisy," which is a universal problem in human culture, and not particularly bound by religion. Atheists have no monopoly on ethics and morality - we simply have a more concrete theory of origin on the subject, and better predictive elements on its formulation.