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I've read a number of posts in which people have described the evils of atheism in the form of atrocities that were committed by communist nations. It is true that only communist nations have been officially atheist and that is due to the writings of Marx and Engels. I remember when visiting China over twenty years ago that I saw sculptures and paintings in public places honouring both men. Every communist nation has been influenced by the first communist nation, Russia. I did read The Condition of the Working Class in England by Engels at least twenty years ago which described the misery of the common worker in that era but I've always felt that communism was much more oppressive and in this day and age it's obviously been a complete failure. Today when someone states that they're an atheist I get the feeling that this association with communism just adds to the negative image of atheists. I've actually had people ask me if I was a communist when I told them I was an atheist. In the minds of many people atheism and communism are part of the same philosophy which is something I completely disagree with. Communism is a failed political system and its link to atheism is only due to the philosophy of a few individuals who were influential in it's beginnings. It could just as well have been based on a religious point of view in which the oppression of the working class and the wealth and power of a small minority controlled everything. It's nothing but a fluke of history. Any thoughts?
Last edited by MontanaGuy; 04-04-2008 at 05:46 PM..
Communism has been tried several times in history and every time it has collapsed within 80 years or morphed into something else more sustainable. Part of the current crop of communists (i.e., 20th century) was an attack against religion as one of the things that bolstered the class strata and kept the proletariat in mental and emotional chains. The theory was that it would throw off the shackles of the wealthy capitalists aristocracy and free the population from all manner of bondage.
Unfortunately, they quickly ran into a populace who was not much interested in throwing off their religion. So they instituted programs of retraining which quickly became oppressive brainwashing. So before long, they practiced their own form of enslaving the populace with forced beliefs and behavior for their own good. They were just as bad as any inquisitor and used many of the same techniques as any extremely controlling church to control the population.
Segue to the west and our own communists were spouting how religion was enslaving people and communism would create a much fairer world where every one would be free and comfortable. So people started equating communists with atheists and when the brutality of practiced communism was learned, then both communists and atheists were painted with the same broad brush. They tarred them with "godless communism." There was a lot of propaganda in the 1950's about how horrible those godless communists were. This was the period when congress inserted the words "under god" in the pledge of allegiance and they tried to get prayer into the public schools arguing that it would shield us from godless communism.
This was not really fair, but there several well known writers who were both. There are plenty of atheists then as now who did not believe in communism at all and saw it for the substitute controlling religion that it really is.
Funny how extremes of any stripe always ends up with the same heinous behavior.
Part of the fear for the religious right is the lost the control over the non-religious. Nothing they say can break through the value system and beliefs they have developed for themselves, and as the non-believer learn more the gap between the two get wider. The only thing they can throw at us is Communism, because in the west most of us see it as a negative. On the other hand I see communism as an economic control through a dictatorship and the church is a spiritual control from a benevolent dictatorship. Not much difference from my vantage point.
Atheists are also perceived as always being liberals.
You want to really feel all alone be an atheist/moderate. You get beat up (verbally) by the liberals, the conservatives and the religious. They all think they can change your mind. LOL
Part of the fear for the religious right is the lost the control over the non-religious. Nothing they say can break through the value system and beliefs they have developed for themselves, and as the non-believer learn more the gap between the two get wider. The only thing they can throw at us is Communism, because in the west most of us see it as a negative. On the other hand I see communism as an economic control through a dictatorship and the church is a spiritual control from a benevolent dictatorship. Not much difference from my vantage point.
You want to really feel all alone be an atheist/moderate. You get beat up (verbally) by the liberals, the conservatives and the religious. They all think they can change your mind. LOL
To answer the OP, from my point of view I don't have any particular mistrust of a person simply because they call themselves an atheist. In fact I have more distrust of most people who lable themselves by the badge of a particular religion. I am also deeply against any political regime that alligns themselves to a particular religion or indeed atheism or utalitarianism. I also support freedom of thought and action by the individual so long as that doesn't lead to actions of oppression. I have faith in the Christian God according to the teachings of the Bible. A previous post of mine was to create a balance in this forum in relation to atheistic points of view and Christian points of view, and to address some fallacies put forward by some atheists who are not as intellectual or logical as they may think they are. My objection to communism would not be on the grounds of any link to atheism, but rather on the basis of a reduction in the freedom of the individual and consequently a reduction in the individual's opportunity to explore their personal truth. For example, it is unlikely that this forum would be tolerated in a communist system.
some atheists who are not as intellectual or logical as they may think they are.
Faith and logic are not compatible.
Your belief isn't logical like you think it is.
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