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Is Atheism responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions of people?

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posted on Sep, 14 2011 @ 10:43 AM
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Now before any Atheist starts criticising this thread, please take a moment to read the thread.

The common argument Atheists have is that religion has always been responsible for countless wars and millions of deaths in history. What they tend to turn a blind eye to is that Atheists (or non-believers in God) ALSO have a bloody past!

Here is a list of leaders who were DEVOUT ATHEISTS and their wars and regimes which killed millions of people:

ADOLF HITLER - WW2 (1939 - 1945) = Over 60,000,000 killed
JOSEPH STALIN - Communist Russia (1932 - 1953) = Over 40,000,000 killed
MAO ZEDONG - Communist China (1949 - 1976) = Between 40,000,000 - 70,000,000 killed
KIM II SUNG- Communist North Korea (1948 - 1994) = Over 1,600,000 killed

TOTAL KILLED = OVER 150 MILLION

Source

The thing with Communism is that it may seem attractive at first because it encourages the "spreading of the wealth" to the people, but that is obviously never the case. It is an oppressive ideology where a select few hoard all the money. Just look at China, Cuba or North Korea - the people have no say about what the Government does whatsoever. I'm not saying Democracy is perfect, we do have our flaws but Communism clearly is flawed by a mile.

Now that leads to question about Communism's close relationship with Atheism. Is it because of Atheism, the ideology is so oppressive? What if it were a religion instead of Atheism, would Communism work?
Ofcourse not, because the foundations of Communism and particularly Marxism completely reject any Religious and Spiritual beliefs hence Atheism and Communism seem to synonymous.

Now I'm not saying Atheism is bad but if you look at History, even if Atheism itself isn't a religion, it still has a bloody past just like Christianity and Islam which no one can deny.

Interested to know what Atheists have to say about this and Atheism's close relationship with Communism.

edit on 14-9-2011 by CasiusIgnoranze because: .



posted on Sep, 14 2011 @ 10:48 AM
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These idiots didn't kill people because of their disbelief in gods (atheism). They killed because they were bad people.

Christians and Muslims on the other hand killed people because of their beliefs.



posted on Sep, 14 2011 @ 10:50 AM
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reply to post by CasiusIgnoranze
 


Hitler's religion is a controversial matter. Many people argue over it, because you can say he is as much skeptic, as he was catholic. So, that one goes out the window.

As for the communism thing, there is a difference between the government/state having no religion at all, and the people having no religion at all. There is religion in Russia, and they actually had some serious historical problems over it. So, Communism goes a bit out of the window too...

Instead of comparing death, why don't you compare the good?

You see, all major historical characters never were related to religion. From Einstein to Voltaire or Newton, all believe in God, but they didn't ally them-selfs with any Church, not at least at very close range.

You have mixed important things in a debate, that should have kept apart.

There is difference between believing in a God (or not), and the actions of a church or religious movement. And that debate is without a doubt in favor of atheism.

Remember that people have been killed in the name of religion, but they have also been killed for believing in it.

The point about religion is about it's own existence, not about which side you are on.



posted on Sep, 14 2011 @ 10:53 AM
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None of those monsters killed in the name of aethism. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Religious wars on the other hand.
The Crusades...
en.wikipedia.org...

And fighting between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland comes to mind.
edit on 14-9-2011 by BoneMosaic because: I have my reasons.



posted on Sep, 14 2011 @ 10:56 AM
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reply to post by CasiusIgnoranze
 


I think humanity, in general, has a bloody past. It isn't why I don't subscribe to organized religion. I don't subscribe to it because I find it rife with assumptions, leaps in logic and an absence of reason.



posted on Sep, 14 2011 @ 11:02 AM
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Read up on Chairman Mao....

The real number that died due to his regime are over 100 million, including deaths from famines that were deliberately induced to kill off former private farmers that disagreed with his policies.



posted on Sep, 14 2011 @ 11:02 AM
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Humanity has a bloody ass nature.Atheism is believing in nothing, just yourself. More people get killed for believing in god, Allah, Muhammad and so forth.



posted on Sep, 14 2011 @ 11:04 AM
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the thing is the church started it we are all now behind because of the butchering they laid down on people with nothing but pitch forks and torches

and you bring up world war 2 the nazies wer cathlic and china is fighting the christans who teach nothing but writeing and reading thats why that war happend



posted on Sep, 14 2011 @ 11:06 AM
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reply to post by CasiusIgnoranze
 


Hitler was was not an atheist. you don't go around talking about how you are doing the work of the "Lord" if you are atheist, and these people didn't murder anyone because of their lack of a belief in "god".

you do understand that the Nazis had a deep interest in the occult and satanism, again impossible for an atheist.

Religion kept us in the dark for centuries, and right now is doing it's best to murder brown people, restrict education, restrict medical treatment, and drag us back kicking and screaming into the dark ages.




Ofcourse not, because the foundations of Communism and particularly Marxism completely reject any Religious and Spiritual beliefs hence Atheism and Communism seem to synonymous.


That, my friends, is a pretty pathetic attempt to label all of us who don't believe in YOUR god, communists. And let me be "that guy" and say if not for the inherent corruptibility of humans who hold power over others, communism would be a much better system than capitalism. the only reason communism hasn't worked is the corrupting power of, well, power.

Ever ask yourself why so many people reject organized religion? simply look at it's past, if you can't figure it out you are a lost cause. Most of us don't have a problem with religion at all, it's when you attempt to dictate how the rest of us can live based on your BELIEFS, is where it becomes a problem.

I can't call myself an atheist, because as I learn more and more about physics I can't rule out a "creator". All i can say is none of the religions I've encountered on this earth get it "right"
edit on 14-9-2011 by phishyblankwaters because: (no reason given)



posted on Sep, 14 2011 @ 11:12 AM
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This argument has been on ATS numerous times.

My take is that more people have been killed in the name of POWER and CONTROL than atheism and theism combined.



posted on Sep, 14 2011 @ 11:14 AM
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I know far more wars, murders and other acts of violence are performed by people who are acting in the name of God. Atheists do not perform acts of violence in a god's name. When an atheist performs a horrid act, and some do, they do it because of their own internal self-talk. Atheists are no more prone to committing atrocious acts than the Muslim, Jew, Christian. Humanity as a whole, is capable of acts of great honor and evil. We are far from perfect no matter what one believes. Humanity kills people not beliefs.



posted on Sep, 14 2011 @ 11:40 AM
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Originally posted by micmerci
This argument has been on ATS numerous times.

My take is that more people have been killed in the name of POWER and CONTROL than atheism and theism combined.


This is absolutely correct. I think theists assume that atheists are somehow less "moral" people because they don't have any kind of guiding doctrine, like the bible is for a Christian. I don't think they believe that people (for the most part anyway) are just inherently good.

Evil people will always use whatever they choose to manipulate and control others



posted on Sep, 14 2011 @ 01:50 PM
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reply to post by CasiusIgnoranze
 


ADOLF HITLER - WW2 (1939 - 1945) = Over 60,000,000 killed

Hitler was Christian, Germany was predominantly Lutheran and Catholic at the time.



posted on Sep, 14 2011 @ 01:53 PM
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reply to post by butcherguy
 

Read his poetry. His atheism, while an official position of his government, is questionable on a personal level.



posted on Oct, 21 2011 @ 06:40 AM
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reply to post by CasiusIgnoranze
 


Allow me to rain on your birthday cake...

Atheism is responsible for mass murders: myth.

In order for something to take blame it must cause it.

Atheism adopts no set of moral beliefs,
Atheists are individually accountable for their moral convictions.
When an atheist, like Stalin, Mayo, and Pot-head, does something, THEY ARE TO BLAME, not atheism.
Not all atheists share the moral convictions that murder is good (identifying the differences of moral convictions).

Atheism does not create a motive to murder.
"I do not believe god exists, I should start killing people",
Is a statement you will never hear because there is EMPTY REASONING there.

"I should kill people because I need power, I'm sadistic, god said so, ..."
Are the kinds of reasons someone would kill;
Because there are reasons people kill does not make atheism accountable because atheism did not supply the reason to kill.

Example: Atheism has as much to do with any actions does the color of one's skin.
If you looked at the prison population and saw that black americans make up the highest percentage, is being black to blame?

Atheism = communism as much as all vegetables are turnips, from Soviet Russia.
Atheism, the lack of belief god exists, is not a government or responsible for any government...
As you can see I've demonstrated this above.

So if you look at history:
Atheism = 0 killed
Joseph Stalin - over 40,000,000 killed
Mao - over 40,000,000 killed
Sung - over 1,600,000 killed

First off, I'm not going to debate on whether or not Hitler were atheist, he was simply motivated by his madness.
Secondly, it is a disgrace to the 600,000,000+ victims of the holocaust to use his murders for propaganda.

Truth has been seen

-Neverseenit
edit on 21-10-2011 by Neverseenit because: typo



posted on Oct, 21 2011 @ 09:43 AM
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reply to post by CasiusIgnoranze
 


You wrote:

["Now I'm not saying Atheism is bad but if you look at History, even if Atheism itself isn't a religion, it still has a bloody past just like Christianity and Islam which no one can deny."]

Your understanding of philosophy (including political philosophy) is deplorable. Political ideologies like nazism and communism aren't an overall category defining atheism. They are separate ideologies.

A CLASSICAL christian misssionary propaganda-twist based on the ...by christian misssionaries so beloved.... method of creating false inductive categories.

Accentuated by the following quote: ["Ofcourse not, because the foundations of Communism and particularly Marxism completely reject any Religious and Spiritual beliefs hence Atheism and Communism seem to synonymous."]

You should have looked up 'synonymous' before using the word. And for that sake have made yourself familiar with the implications of atheism in general. Very few (informed) atheists take the position of 'gnostic' (~'strong') atheism, which is based on reductionist materialist philosophy.

So as always when this bizarre christian claim turns ups, it's directed at a phantom opponent. A fight against windmills for propaganda-reasons.




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