Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Stalin alone counts for millions. Mao millions more. Pol Pot millions more. You don't really have to think very hard to come up with examples.
I was actually hoping to see examples of atheistic regimes that specifically killed people in the name of atheism. Not "leaders who just happened to be atheist". See, I was actually expecting that the comparison between things like the Spanish Inquisition and "atheistic regimes" to be on a similar concept. The Spanish Inquisition killed because of religion. The names you listed? They didn't kill for or against religion. We're talking political and economic deaths. Not "we're killing you because of your religion or lack thereof".
Because if we're just going based on the religion of the leader(s) and not the reason for the murders, then one could reasonably attribute any and all deaths during any regime to the religion of the leader(s) in charge. At which point, we're looking at large numbers across the board. For instance.
Heck, if this is the comparison that we're going to make, then one could attribute every death-row inmate's death in America to the Judeo-Christian faiths.
Last edited by gallowsCalibrator; 06-11-2012 at 08:33 AM..
Stalin alone counts for millions. Mao millions more. Pol Pot millions more. You don't really have to think very hard to come up with examples.
The primary reason these regimes have such a high body count is because the technology of death was beginning to peak during the 20th century. Contrast them to, oh, the Islamic conquest of the Indian subcontinent (where some 80 million Hindus were slaughtered or starved) and then consider that those atrocities were performed the old fashioned way with swords and knives, and you get a little better comparison.
Stalin alone counts for millions. Mao millions more. Pol Pot millions more. You don't really have to think very hard to come up with examples.
Wow! Live and learn. Stalin and Mao killed in the name of atheism?
I really did not realize that they were on a crusade to kill, motivated by a desitre to convert people from religion to atheism. Can you provide a link?
Wow! Live and learn. Stalin and Mao killed in the name of atheism?
I really did not realize that they were on a crusade to kill, motivated by a desitre to convert people from religion to atheism. Can you provide a link?
Uh, maybe its relevant because Stalin was in a positon of power whereby there was nobody to hold him accountable for his actions.
A true Christian believes even if no MAN can hold them accountable for their actions, God will.
Stalin didn't believe in God and nobody could stop him, so he killed whoever he wanted without consequence.
Uh, maybe its relevant because Stalin was in a positon of power whereby there was nobody to hold him accountable for his actions.
A true Christian believes even if no MAN can hold them accountable for their actions, God will.
Stalin didn't believe in God and nobody could stop him, so he killed whoever he wanted without consequence.
That's why atheism is so dangerous.
So... your argument is that belief in God is good (regardless of whether or not it is true) because it has some sort of an ameliorating effect on human savagery?
Please... exactly what alternative human history would lead you to believe such a thing? Across all of history the human race has been overwhelmingly religious, and across all of history the human race has been irremediably violent. For most of that history the relationship between religiosity and blood-lust was essentially uncoupled, correlating only because of the independent prevalence of both.
But that changed with the rise of Christianity and it's daughter religion of Islam. Their rise as imperialistic, exclusive monotheisms produced the innovations of "holy war" and religious persecution that have characterized the last two millennia. The very concept of killing "in the name of" a religion or ideology is an Islamo-Christian invention.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.