Atheism - less war?

[Dawud]

He seemed to believe that being atheist was a better way to live and attempted to compel the population to be atheist by murdering lots of Christians.

So I suppose you might be arguing that it was not his atheism but his imposition of atheism that was the problem - he believed that forcing people to be atheist was a good thing: hence the propaganda and cold blood on his hands.

No?

[The Grand Nudger]

I already asked you to fill in the blanks, this continued discussion has been infuriating - because until you find some way to make atheism a compelling factor for the murder of scores of people (in the presence of convenient and well demonstrated political motivations no less) I'm just going to assume you're trolling me brah.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

He seemed to believe that being atheist was a better way to live and attempted to compel the population to be atheist by murdering lots of Christians.

So I suppose you might be arguing that it was not his atheism but his imposition of atheism that was the problem - he believed that forcing people to be atheist was a good thing: hence the propaganda and cold blood on his hands.

No?

If you can point out to us where it is written that atheists must kill believers then I will give you your point and concede that you are right.

Also, assuming you're not just trolling us, where do you get this blizzare perspective on atheism? Who told you what atheism was before coming on here?

[Dawud]

I don't think that atheism dictates that you kill non-atheists (believe it or not its not just atheists who aren't dumb).

What Im saying is quite clear, Stalin's aim to convert people to atheism as a superior way of life would not have been done had he not thought it was a superior way of life. He killed people to destroy religion and carried out the most oppressive campaign against belief in God in history. He seemed to value atheism as beneficial to his cause (no?). Had he not viewed making his population atheist a good thing, I'm that kind of 'crazy' guy that would say he wouldn't have killed so many to spread it...

You might think atheism had nothing to do with his actions... I think it was a pretty important factor and denial of that clear and present fact is just dishonest.

[The Grand Nudger]

What Im saying is quite clear, Stalin's aim to convert people to atheism as a superior way of life would not have been done had he not thought it was a superior way of life. He killed people to destroy -political dissidents-

Fixed that for you.

You might think atheism had nothing to do with his actions... I think it was a pretty important factor and denial of that clear and present fact is just dishonest.

There is no clear and present fact. Unless, again, and for the final time, you can show that "i do not believe" is somehow the basis for "so i must kill those that do"

IOW, it isn't "atheism gone wrong" but something else, gone horribly wrong (or right..depending on which side of stalin's line you happened to be on).

[Dawud]

So you deny that he aimed to destroy religion now...

[The Grand Nudger]

Conversations with a pigeon.....

Look, you're never going to find the edge you were hoping to find. Not because I'm competent, not because you're incompetent, but because that ledge -does not exist-

Shit elsewhere.

[Dawud]

It's a minority opinion but most would accept that he did aim to destroy religion (hence the anti religious propaganda and murders).

I'm not saying it's atheism gone wrong - you are right: Im saying it was terrible reaction to atheism

But to say that atheism has nothing to do with Stalin's murders is just real silly mate - he did want the people to reject religion and be atheist...

---

Ale the tail from between your legs and man up - people are mental and people do all sorts of things because they think atheism is a good thing.... accept it!

[TromboneAtheist]

If he did agree to destroy religion(I am ignorant on the subject myself), then I think the main reason he would do this is because he doesn't want a Christ, Yahweh, or some other deity getting in the way of his own domination. I would go so far as to say that he wanted to deify himself, at least in the minds of the people, and you can't do that when there are religions that claim there is only one god, and he is (fill in the blank)

[Tonus]

Sorry - to clarify: Stalin was an atheist who's attempt to convert people to abandon religion resulted in deaths of hundreds if not thousands.

Like the leadership of North Korea, I don't think Stalin was interested in converting people to atheism. He wanted them to convert to a political ideology that idolized the party leadership, and he didn't want Jesus or Moses or Mohammed interfering with that. He didn't kill millions because they weren't good atheists; he killed them because they weren't good "communists." Although in fairness, he probably killed most of them because he wasn't sure he could trust them, and why take chances?

Guys like Stalin are what make me think that if Osama Bin Laden hadn't been a Muslim, he'd have found some other way to satisfy his bloodthirst. Saddam Hussein was "secular," wasn't he?