(June 25, 2011 at 8:42 am)Epimethean Wrote: "Mmm...Many, many priests were killed by Stalinists and Maoists, in the name of atheism, in the name of getting rid of religion, in the specter of communism..."
I don't think they were killed in the "name" of atheism, but in the name of preserving the "security" of the state, and I do think there is more than a semantic distinction to be made there.
Hmmmm. Well, Stalin killed lots of people in the name of National Security, or in the name of cleansing the Soviet Union of ..... Stalin killed far more people than Hitler. He killed lots of "undesirables".
In terms of his killing a lot of religious leaders - priests, Catholic religious, Jews, Muslims - all of them were professing devotion to something greater than the State. In terms of a communist ideology, many of the overtly religious somehow wear something or do something in particular that sets them apart from all other groups. In the case of Muslims, all Jews, and maybe some Catholics (headscarves for women pre-Vatican2), they set themselves apart, for recognition. Communism doesn't work well when you give to each according to need when and only when they are part of your religious sect. Karl Marx, although he was an atheist, seemed to expect that religions would go by the wayside, as would their hierarchy and their (sometimes vast) wealth redistributed as a matter of course - he didn't advocate banning it or forbidding conquered people from worshiping.
In short, the religious and those overtly displaying their religion made for an identifiable ethnic group. This didn't fit in well with the communist notion of equality among proletariat. Or, of course, that the State could and did seize the property of those executed by Stalin's regime. It's pretty easy to just believe in God if you want, not talk about Him/Her/It/Them, and don't do anything overt. Hey, didn't Jesus say something about Christians praying publicly? Didn't Paul say that to know Christians, they should be identified by their love, not by what they say? Didn't Jesus say that all who appear to follow Him are not "saved"? (Matthew 7:21-23)?
