Can we please put this to rest?
06 08 07 10:01 by vagrant
Could we please put to rest the whole "Nazis | Communists | whoever where atheists and look at all the bad things they did!" crap? I am just sick to fuck of listening to it. Normally the truth of the situation falls into one of two cases (and sometimes both):
So can we be done with this now? We can cite many examples of naughtiness instigated in the name of religion, how many in the name of atheism? Are those crickets I hear?
- They weren't atheist.
Nazis werent' atheists. Period. Atheists generally would not put "Gott mit uns" on their belt buckles. And note that this isn't a "they weren't REAL atheists" argument, this is simply an invalid claim.
- Atheism was only a "by-product"
Totalitarian regimes are often pegged with atheism as they supressed other religion. It was/is not for the sake of atheism though. It is all about authority. Dictators normally don't like to share power and don't want any other voice challenging theirs. So when religion cannot be brought into line, it is suppressed to silence any challenge to the regimes authority. That is not atheism.
So can we be done with this now? We can cite many examples of naughtiness instigated in the name of religion, how many in the name of atheism? Are those crickets I hear?