Well, I think I've already been down that path with my own (
de facto) atheist appreciation thread recently
@sealchan but I'm happy to chime in with some specific thoughts from the Catholic tradition (which I refrained from doing over on the other aforementioned thread).
Pope Francis: Atheists are all right!
It doesn't matter much to the atheists of the world that -- of all people -- Pope Francis is on their side. But he is. And that's a cool thing for all of us.... In a message delivered Wednesday via Vatican Radio, the new pontiff distinguished himself with a call for tolerance and a message of support
"This commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: We need that so much. 'But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!' But do good: we will meet one another there."
It was a deeper affirmation of his comments back in March, when he declared that the faithful and atheists can be "precious allies... to defend the dignity of man, in the building of a peaceful coexistence between peoples and in the careful protection of creation."
Ecclesiam Suam (August 6, 1964) | Paul VI
The Church can regard no one as excluded from its motherly embrace, no one as outside the scope of its motherly care. It has no enemies except those who wish to make themselves such. Its catholicity is no idle boast. It was not for nothing that it received its mission to foster love, unity and peace among men...
Though We speak firmly and clearly in defence of religion, and of those human, spiritual values which it proclaims and cherishes, Our pastoral solicitude nevertheless prompts Us to probe into the mind of the modern atheist, in an effort to understand the reasons...They are obviously many and complex, and we must come to a prudent decision about them, and answer them effectively.
They sometimes spring from the demand for a more profound and purer presentation of religious truth, and an objection to forms of language and worship which somehow fall short of the ideal. These things we must remedy. We must do all we can to purify them and make them express more adequately the sacred reality of which they are the signs.
We see these men serving a demanding and often a noble cause, fired with enthusiasm and idealism, dreaming of justice and progress and striving for a social order which they conceive of as the ultimate of perfection, and all but divine. This, for them, is the Absolute and the Necessary.
Again we see these men taking pains to work out scientific explanation of the universe by human reasoning, and they are often quite ingenuously enthusiastic about this. It is an enquiry which is all the less reprehensible in that it follows rules of logic very similar to those which are taught in the best schools of philosophy...
They are sometimes men of great breadth of mind, impatient with the mediocrity and self-seeking which infects so much of modern society. They are quick to make use of sentiments and expressions found in our Gospel, referring to the brotherhood of man, mutual aid, and human compassion...We do not therefore give up hope of the eventual possibility of a dialogue between these men and the Church.
Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern Word-Gaudium et Spes
(1965, Vatican II)
"The word atheism is applied to phenomena which are quite distinct from one another. For while God is expressly denied by some...Many...contend that everything can be explained by scientific reasoning alone, or by contrast, they altogether disallow that there is any absolute truth....
Some never get to the point of raising questions about God, since they seem to experience no religious stirrings nor do they see why they should trouble themselves about religion. Moreover, atheism results not rarely from a violent protest against the evil in this world, or from the absolute character with which certain human values are unduly invested, and which thereby already accords them the stature of God...
Taken as a whole, atheism is not a spontaneous development but stems from a variety of causes, including a critical reaction against religious beliefs, and in some places against the Christian religion in particular. Hence believers can have more than a little to do with the birth of atheism. To the extent that they neglect their own training in the faith, or teach erroneous doctrine, or are deficient in their religious, moral, or social life, they must be said to conceal rather than reveal the authentic face of God and religion."
