Reply #51: No I'm not; Atheism had virtually nothing to do with their crimes [View All]

[PurityOfEssence]

All of the people killed by Mao, Stalin, Pol-Pot were not killed in the name of Atheism or to crush religion. For the vast--the overwhelming--majority of their victims, religion wasn't even an issue. For the ones for whom it was, it was largely for the political nature of the religious organizations to which they belonged, usually with a leadership position. Throughout the Soviet-style Western governments, religion was allowed to exist (although begrudgingly and tightly controlled or marginalized) and it was not belief per se that was what got one into trouble. Killing in the name of Atheism is extremely rare in comparison to killing for the big whatever(s).

It's a tired cliche that all victims of these types of historical regimes are specifically because of religion; it would be just as fair to say that anyone executed by governments with official religion or tolerant of religion were acts of religious-motivated killing. I guarantee you that you don't want to see that, it'd swell the already huge numbers of victims of religion throughout the ages, further overwhelming comparitive deaths caused by Atheism. If all persecutions or deaths caused by governments with a stated policy of non-religion or Atheism are to be attributed to Atheism, then the reverse should be true.

You have to remember that for people without religion, the subject often just doesn't come up. Many atheists don't wake up and go about their days actively destroying religion, they just ignore it and go about their business. A government with no religion can not have all its faults blamed on the lack of it any more than the Church of England is responsible for every dead wog in its colonial empire.

Religion is often used as an excuse or a justification for butchery and conquest, that is why it's so dangerous. With core belief tenets that certain things are to be believed without question, it's easy to get people to do horrific things, even when they don't benefit from doing them.

There's an odd concept in this country that the dominant religiosity that pervades our lives is somehow being persecuted. That's laughable. The idea that my not wanting to have it shoved down our throats at every turn by government engaged in governing is somehow persecution of the tormentors is galling.

There's been plenty of persecution of religion throughout history, but it's almost always been done by other religions; so join me in pointing a big honkin' finger at religion as the problem.

What do you say about this?