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Goodbye Jesus

Atheism And Communism


leftofpunk

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I hear it from theists and Christians often, the argument that atheism has killed more people than religion and they cite communism as the proof. In fact the Pope recently did this. Generally the response is that the stuff that went on in communist Russia and China had nothing to do with atheism, but rather an authoritative, dogmatic ideology.

 

Well I got an email from the chairperson of a small atheist group I sometimes participate in and I guess there's a member that's having a book discussion and she was inviting people. The book to be discussed is Away With All Gods! Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World by Bob Avakian. It sounded rather harsh and well...radical. I certainly don't want to crush religious liberty in this country. I don't want an atheist country but a strict secular government. I went to the books website as it's not available on Amazon and I was curious about the author. Turns out the guy is as outspoken of a communist as he is an atheist and it just didn't sit well with me.

 

I emailed the guy that sent the newsletter and wrote this:

Jim,

 

You know how theists and Christians in general like to say all atheists are communists? Personally I try my best to refute that whenever I'm given that claim. I don't know where your ideas are concerning the relationship between communism and atheism but I try to keep them as separate as possible. Dunno if you're aware but Bob Avakian is an outspoken communist in addition to being an atheist. He wants to see a complete regime change in the US and make the US a communist country. it just seems like associating with anything that ties atheism and communism together would produce negative results in winning the hearts and minds of irrational thinkers over to our camp. I mean it's tough enough as it is without giving theists ammo to tie us with communists ya know?

 

Just some thoughts.

 

So what are your thoughts about this guy? Personally I think whatever your political leanings, it should probably stay out of your atheism when debating with theists as you don't want to give them ammunition like I stated to Jim

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I hear it from theists and Christians often, the argument that atheism has killed more people than religion and they cite communism as the proof. In fact the Pope recently did this. Generally the response is that the stuff that went on in communist Russia and China had nothing to do with atheism, but rather an authoritative, dogmatic ideology.

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So what are your thoughts about this guy? Personally I think whatever your political leanings, it should probably stay out of your atheism when debating with theists as you don't want to give them ammunition like I stated to Jim

 

First of all here is the Amazon.com link for the book amazon.com

 

The guy's the the Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party,USA based on this site.

 

I have never equated atheism with Communism prior to my de-conversion and certain do not now since I am an atheist.

 

I agree the human rights atrocities in the former USSR and China have more to do with the dogma of Marx (or more importantly the attempt to implement Marx's ideas) than with atheism.

 

Side Note: Personally I think the Communism is nothing but crap. Marx failed to take into account the more base human emotions (greed, lust etc...). We've seen a few countries try it and none of them have succeeded in the transition from Socialism to true Communism. It's Utopian nonsense.

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Best I've ever heard it stated was by Bill Maher during (I think) an after-the-show discussion once. He and the people he'd invited on were discussing how religion had been used to justify untold slaughter and suffering when one of them tried the old "equate atheism with communist dictators and Hitler" tactic. After neatly clearing up the latter by pointing out Hitler was a devout catholic with the blessing of the RCC (a stance which has since, of course, been recanted and made to seem as if it never happened), he went on to state "the communist countries of the late 20th century were not atheist regimes, they were religions of the state."

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You know how theists and Christians in general like to say all atheists are communists?

Christians need to get a clue and realize this is illogical (not to mention just plain ignorant), and they have it backwards. All communists might be atheists (and even that may not be true), but atheism itself has no dependency on communism......there are plenty of atheists who are not communists. I am sure Christians wouldn't like it if I said all theists are Muslim terrorists, but they are using the same line of reasoning with this "all atheists are communists" bullshit.

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Best I've ever heard it stated was by Bill Maher during (I think) an after-the-show discussion once. He and the people he'd invited on were discussing how religion had been used to justify untold slaughter and suffering when one of them tried the old "equate atheism with communist dictators and Hitler" tactic. After neatly clearing up the latter by pointing out Hitler was a devout catholic with the blessing of the RCC (a stance which has since, of course, been recanted and made to seem as if it never happened), he went on to state "the communist countries of the late 20th century were not atheist regimes, they were religions of the state."

 

More to the point, both Nazi Fascism and Stalinist Communism cynically used christianity when it suited them. Hitler used Lutheran doctrines of obedience to the State, and Stalin re-opened Russian Orthodox churches when it looked as if he needed every psychological advantage he could get to cover his blunders which had led to the disastrous German invasion in 1941.

Casey

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