Don’t gloss over all the atrocities committed by the Soviets and Chinese in the name of aetheism.
Evil people will harness whatever philosophy is convenient to justify their actions.
Evil people will harness whatever philosophy is convenient to justify their actions.
@Jumpcrisscross: One can make similar arguments for the Crusades.
Then why not make that argument? Remember to put “Deus Vult” in that context.
Of course they did since the pretty much first they did was to imprison in concentration camps the clergy, and destroy all religious buildings as well.
“Pretty much” is doing yeoman’s work there, bravo. I like how it also glosses over the fact that most of what happened was anti-money, anti-status, and anti-intellectual.
Of course they did since the pretty much first they did was to imprison in concentration camps the clergy, and destroy all religious buildings as well. This comment is so incredibly naive.
And you are 100% spot on - evil will use and abuse anything in pursuit of its goals. But those people that we clearly identify as evil - they were utterly convinced of the righteousness of their actions, whether it was Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, or the terrorists of the 21st century.
Stalin himself was educated at a theological seminary. You should also be aware that Stalin drew upon the ideas of divine right that previous monarchs of Russia had used to claim authority. He used the Russian Orthodox church to grant himself legitimacy, and that church never left his side even through all of the atrocities. To this day, they create iconography of Stalin (typically with a halo).
Either way, this is decidedly NOT secularism.
I certainly didn't "gloss over" anything, having given approximately equal time to talking about religion and the suppression thereof. That's entirely unfair, by the way, since it's hard to find examples of the latter, while history is replete with examples of the former.