(October 4, 2017 at 1:57 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote:(October 4, 2017 at 1:49 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: Eradicating religion wasn't the goal, it was one of the means by which Stalin consolidated power, which was the goal.
Um I mean, however you want to word it is fine lol. He was trying to build an atheist state, and in doing so, killed tens of millions of religious people, destroyed churches, and took away people's religious rights. Whether he was doing it to try to gain power or whatever, I don't think changes anything. The same argument can be made for some religious wars being a means of seeking power and control through it, but that doesn't change anything.
I didn't make any claims about the latter, I happen to agree.
What's good for the goose, is good for the gander though - if you're going to claim that Stalin's goal was to build an atheist state, and that is why he committed violence (it was not, it was a means to an end), then it's more than a little disingenuous to claim the same sort of violence perpetuated by religious powers wasn't for religious purposes (this also was, IMO often but not always also a means to an end).
