Difference between revisions of "Preventing Totalitarianism"

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The third option has grown increasingly throughout living memory, as the first two options tend to be harder to sell. Commonly, this takes the form of linking atheism to other (typically political) beliefs, to allow Christians assign their current enemy’s label to atheists and questioners of faith. This label can take on any form, as the only thing incompatible with atheism is theism. Typically, this label is that of a detested [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism totalitarian] group, usually one which was responsible for one of the great crimes of the 20th century ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid Apartheid], the Holdomor, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust the Holocaust], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_genocide the Rwandan genocide], etc.),<ref name="Hedges">C. Hedges, ''American Fascists:  The Christian Right and the War on America'' (Free Press, 2008).</ref> This practice of “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_fallacy guilt by association]” if fallacious at best, and malicious lies at worst. Atheists, like many theists, disagree among themselves on ''many'' issues.<ref name="Smith">G. H. Smith, ''Atheism:  The Case Against God'' (Prometheus Books, 2016).</ref> The average atheist is no closer to becoming an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler Adolph Hitler] or a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin Joseph Stalin] than a typical Christian is to becoming the next [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones Jim Jones] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Koresh David Koresh].<ref name="Harrison"> G. P. Harrison, ''50 Simple Questions for Every Christian'' (Prometheus Books, 2013).</ref> The [https://youtu.be/nhUQJ9mJTOo?t=4m37s wanton rationalization of violence] -- the concept of a “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_war_theory just war]” was introduced to the Western tradition by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo St. Augustine],<ref name="Onfrey"> M. Onfrey, ''In Defense of Atheism:  The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam'' (Penguin Canada, 2008).</ref> and it doesn’t take much imagination to see how the Christian kings of Medieval Europe could have been as terrible as any 20th century tyrant, had they has access to assault rifles and tanks instead of pikes and trebuchets -- especially since the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II_of_Belgium Christian kings of 19th century Europe] were capable of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Free_State similar horrors on continental scales].  
 
The third option has grown increasingly throughout living memory, as the first two options tend to be harder to sell. Commonly, this takes the form of linking atheism to other (typically political) beliefs, to allow Christians assign their current enemy’s label to atheists and questioners of faith. This label can take on any form, as the only thing incompatible with atheism is theism. Typically, this label is that of a detested [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism totalitarian] group, usually one which was responsible for one of the great crimes of the 20th century ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid Apartheid], the Holdomor, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust the Holocaust], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_genocide the Rwandan genocide], etc.),<ref name="Hedges">C. Hedges, ''American Fascists:  The Christian Right and the War on America'' (Free Press, 2008).</ref> This practice of “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_fallacy guilt by association]” if fallacious at best, and malicious lies at worst. Atheists, like many theists, disagree among themselves on ''many'' issues.<ref name="Smith">G. H. Smith, ''Atheism:  The Case Against God'' (Prometheus Books, 2016).</ref> The average atheist is no closer to becoming an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler Adolph Hitler] or a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin Joseph Stalin] than a typical Christian is to becoming the next [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones Jim Jones] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Koresh David Koresh].<ref name="Harrison"> G. P. Harrison, ''50 Simple Questions for Every Christian'' (Prometheus Books, 2013).</ref> The [https://youtu.be/nhUQJ9mJTOo?t=4m37s wanton rationalization of violence] -- the concept of a “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_war_theory just war]” was introduced to the Western tradition by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo St. Augustine],<ref name="Onfrey"> M. Onfrey, ''In Defense of Atheism:  The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam'' (Penguin Canada, 2008).</ref> and it doesn’t take much imagination to see how the Christian kings of Medieval Europe could have been as terrible as any 20th century tyrant, had they has access to assault rifles and tanks instead of pikes and trebuchets -- especially since the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II_of_Belgium Christian kings of 19th century Europe] were capable of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Free_State similar horrors on continental scales].  
 
   
 
   
The link between totalitarianism and atheism was indirectly proposed by Machiavelli, who argued that strong Christian states were impossible, since Christianity's universal love and acceptance would subvert the nationalism required to build such a state.<ref name="Cox"> H. Cox, ''The Secular City:  Secularization and Urbanization in Theological Perspective'' (Princeton University Press, 2013).</ref> However, this overlooks the fact that '''Nazism and Communism took hold in part, because churches had conditioned the population to accept dogmatism.'''<ref name="Russell-Not"> B. Russell, edited by P. Edwards, ''Why I Am Not a Christian'' (Touchstone, 1967).</ref>
+
The link between totalitarianism and atheism was indirectly proposed by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli Machiavelli], who argued that strong Christian states were impossible, since Christianity's universal love and acceptance would subvert the nationalism required to build such a state.<ref name="Cox"> H. Cox, ''The Secular City:  Secularization and Urbanization in Theological Perspective'' (Princeton University Press, 2013).</ref> However, this overlooks the fact that '''Nazism and Communism took hold in part, because churches had conditioned the population to accept dogmatism.'''<ref name="Russell-Not"> B. Russell, edited by P. Edwards, ''Why I Am Not a Christian'' (Touchstone, 1967).</ref>
  
'''Totalitarianism is not exclusive to atheism''', because totalitarianism will arise in any system which is enabled to make laws which are impossible to obey. This resulting tyranny is even more impressive if it can be enforced by a privileged caste or party which is highly zealous in the detection of error. George Orwell’s 1984 was inspired by his schoolboy experiences at a Christian private school, where it wasn’t possible to know when you had broken the rules. <ref name="Hitchens ">C. Hitchens, ''God is Not Great:  How Religion Poisons Everything'' (Twelve, 2009).</ref> People with authoritarian personalities have greater tendencies towards ethnocentricity, xenophobia, sexual repression, and a love of hierarchy and dogma.<ref name="Carlin"> D. Carlin, ''The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America'' (Sophia Institute Press, 2003).</ref> '''Christianity will not make anyone into an authoritarian or a totalitarian, but Christianity caters to the exact wants, needs, and desires of such people'''; it is an enabler.
+
'''Totalitarianism is not exclusive to atheism, because totalitarianism will arise in ''any'' system which is enabled to make laws which are ''impossible'' to obey.''' This resulting tyranny is even more impressive if it can be enforced by a privileged caste or party which is highly zealous in the detection of error. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell George Orwell]’s [https://youtu.be/iNPHU_ro-1U?t=1m25s 1984] was inspired by his childhood experiences at a Christian private school, where it wasn’t possible to know when you had broken the rules. <ref name="Hitchens ">C. Hitchens, ''God is Not Great:  How Religion Poisons Everything'' (Twelve, 2009).</ref> People with authoritarian personalities have greater tendencies towards ethnocentricity, xenophobia, sexual repression, and a love of hierarchy and dogma.<ref name="Carlin"> D. Carlin, ''The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America'' (Sophia Institute Press, 2003).</ref> '''Christianity will not make anyone into an authoritarian or a totalitarian, but Christianity caters to the exact wants, needs, and desires of such people'''; it is an enabler.
  
 
== Hitler and the Nazis were not Atheists ==
 
== Hitler and the Nazis were not Atheists ==
 
+
Out of his countless monologues, '''Hitler never claimed to be an atheist.''' If anything, the opposite is true, as evidenced by the fact that:<ref name="Boghossian"></ref>
 
+
*Although he lamented the effect the Bible had on the German people, '''Hitler never outlawed Christianity, and never renounced the church''' -- only it’s teachings about aiding the infirm and how Jesus was a non-Aryan Jew.
Out of his countless monologues, Hitler never claimed to be an atheist. If anything, the opposite is true, as evidenced by the fact that:<ref name="Boghossian"></ref>
+
**In particular, Hitler was infatuated with Christ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_QLzthSkfM scourging] the temple’s moneylenders. It should be noted that the Bible mentions Jesus’ use of a scourge only once -- in the notably anti-Semitic Gospel of John.<ref name="Onfrey"></ref>
*Although he lamented the effect the Bible had on the German people, Hitler never outlawed Christianity, and never renounced the church -- only it’s teachings about aiding the infirm and how Jesus was a non-Aryan Jew.
+
*Hitler claimed that he was subject to “Divine Providence” from “almighty God” as an explanation for surviving his 22 [http://listverse.com/2017/06/11/top-10-failed-plots-to-assassinate-adolf-hitler/ assassination attempts].  
**In particular, Hitler was infatuated with Christ scourging the temple’s moneylenders. It should be noted that the Bible mentions Jesus’ use of a scourge only once -- in the notably anti-Semitic Gospel of John.<ref name="Onfrey"></ref>
 
*Hitler claimed that he was subject to “Divine Providence” from “almighty God” as an explanation for surviving his 22 assassination attempts.  
 
 
*Hitler was a devout child and choirboy, who always attended mass with his mom.  
 
*Hitler was a devout child and choirboy, who always attended mass with his mom.  
 
*Hitler’s rallies were inspired by the pageantry of the church<ref name="Onfrey"></ref> and ancient Rome. [10]
 
*Hitler’s rallies were inspired by the pageantry of the church<ref name="Onfrey"></ref> and ancient Rome. [10]

Revision as of 22:16, 26 September 2017

There are only three arguments used to defend against any critique of religion:[1]

  1. Religion is true.
  2. Religion is useful.
  3. Atheism is morally and socially corrosive.

The third option has grown increasingly throughout living memory, as the first two options tend to be harder to sell. Commonly, this takes the form of linking atheism to other (typically political) beliefs, to allow Christians assign their current enemy’s label to atheists and questioners of faith. This label can take on any form, as the only thing incompatible with atheism is theism. Typically, this label is that of a detested totalitarian group, usually one which was responsible for one of the great crimes of the 20th century (Apartheid, the Holdomor, the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, etc.),[2] This practice of “guilt by association” if fallacious at best, and malicious lies at worst. Atheists, like many theists, disagree among themselves on many issues.[3] The average atheist is no closer to becoming an Adolph Hitler or a Joseph Stalin than a typical Christian is to becoming the next Jim Jones or David Koresh.[4] The wanton rationalization of violence -- the concept of a “just war” was introduced to the Western tradition by St. Augustine,[5] and it doesn’t take much imagination to see how the Christian kings of Medieval Europe could have been as terrible as any 20th century tyrant, had they has access to assault rifles and tanks instead of pikes and trebuchets -- especially since the Christian kings of 19th century Europe were capable of similar horrors on continental scales.

The link between totalitarianism and atheism was indirectly proposed by Machiavelli, who argued that strong Christian states were impossible, since Christianity's universal love and acceptance would subvert the nationalism required to build such a state.[6] However, this overlooks the fact that Nazism and Communism took hold in part, because churches had conditioned the population to accept dogmatism.[7]

Totalitarianism is not exclusive to atheism, because totalitarianism will arise in any system which is enabled to make laws which are impossible to obey. This resulting tyranny is even more impressive if it can be enforced by a privileged caste or party which is highly zealous in the detection of error. George Orwell’s 1984 was inspired by his childhood experiences at a Christian private school, where it wasn’t possible to know when you had broken the rules. [8] People with authoritarian personalities have greater tendencies towards ethnocentricity, xenophobia, sexual repression, and a love of hierarchy and dogma.[9] Christianity will not make anyone into an authoritarian or a totalitarian, but Christianity caters to the exact wants, needs, and desires of such people; it is an enabler.

Hitler and the Nazis were not Atheists

Out of his countless monologues, Hitler never claimed to be an atheist. If anything, the opposite is true, as evidenced by the fact that:[1]

  • Although he lamented the effect the Bible had on the German people, Hitler never outlawed Christianity, and never renounced the church -- only it’s teachings about aiding the infirm and how Jesus was a non-Aryan Jew.
    • In particular, Hitler was infatuated with Christ scourging the temple’s moneylenders. It should be noted that the Bible mentions Jesus’ use of a scourge only once -- in the notably anti-Semitic Gospel of John.[5]
  • Hitler claimed that he was subject to “Divine Providence” from “almighty God” as an explanation for surviving his 22 assassination attempts.
  • Hitler was a devout child and choirboy, who always attended mass with his mom.
  • Hitler’s rallies were inspired by the pageantry of the church[5] and ancient Rome. [10]
  • Eva Braun’s aunt was a nun cloistered in a convent which was closed by Bormannn. Upon hearing of this, Hitler ordered the convent to be reopened, claiming that such measures did more harm than good.
  • The German Army had Catholic and Protestant chaplains in the field. Proof of membership to either of these faiths was required to join the SS.
  • Nazi soldiers had “God is with us” inscribed on their belt buckles. This is a paraphrase of DEU 20:4, when God addressed to the Hebrews to fight their Egyptian enemies, to whom God promised an unspecified extermination (DEU 20:13).[5]
  • Hitler admired Islam, for its military tradition.
  • When overzealous Nazi officials removed the crucifixes from Bavarian schools, Hitler ordered them rehung. Hitler thought secular schools were intolerable, because they offered no religious instruction. Hitler viewed faith as the foundation which general moral instruction and character training were built upon.[10]
  • As soon as Hitler came to power in 1933, the Catholic Church entered The Concordant with the Vatican, which granted the church independence and allowed Catholic schools to remain open in exchange for their political neutrality. In particular:[5]
    • The Catholic Church approved of German rearmament in the 1930s, which was contrary to both the spirit of the Treaty of Versailles and Jesus's teachings of peace, mildness, and loving of one's neighbor.
    • The Catholic Church remained silent over:
      • The boycotts of Jewish businesses.
      • The proclamation of the 1935 Nuremberg racial laws.
      • The Kristallnacht.
      • The discovery of the mass graves, the gas chambers, and the death camps.
    • The Catholic Church provided its genealogical records to the Nazis, which stated who in Germany was Christian, and therefore non-Jewish. The Catholics Church only defended Jewish converts and Jews married to Christians, via information withholding in the name of "pastoral secrecy."
    • The Catholic Church supported, defended, and aided Ante Pavelic’s pro-Nazi Ustachi regime of in Croatia.
    • The Catholic Church gave its absolution to France's collaborationist Vichy regime in 1940.
    • The Catholic Church endorsed Operation Barbarossa (i.e., the Soviet invasion), which they viewed as means to literally combat atheism.
    • The Catholic Church was fully aware of the Holocaust and did nothing to condemn it in private or in public, nor was any priest or bishop ordered to give a condemnation. Even after the extermination camps were discovered and liberated by the Allies, the Vatican continued supporting what remained of Hitler’s defeated regime.
    • Cardinal Bertram ordered a requiem mass in Hitler’s memory.
    • Hitler was never publically excommunicated for his crimes against humanity. According to most versions of Christianity, all he had to do was repent in his bunker in his final moments to be saved.[4]
    • Since it is unlikely that many of the victims of the Holocaust converted to Christianity in their final moments, they are likely damned.[4]
    • Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich were Catholics, and were never excommunicated for their roles in starting the Holocaust.
    • The Catholic Church set up a network to smuggle war criminals out of post-war Europe. The fascists who provided the Vatican with its nation-state status to grant travel visas to fugitive Nazis, and used its European monasteries as an “underground railroad” for former Nazi dignitaries and officials.
    • The Catholic Church clergy who performed tasks on behalf of Hitler’s regime were never reprimanded for their involvement, and their promotions within the church’s hierarchy went unimpeded.
    • The Catholic Church has never acknowledged their involvement, despite historical evidence to the contrary.
    • Although the Vatican Secret Archives have been opened to scholars, they still forbid access to all documents after 1939.

The Christian-Nazi link sadly continues into modern day; as the Aryan Nation is itself a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ-Christian.[10]

Stalin and the Communists did not Support Atheism

Although the USSR was “officially atheist” because of its commitment to Marxist Dogma, the term “atheistic communism” has always been a misnomer, since Jesus never endorsed any particular economic system.[11] If anything, the opposite is true, because both the founder of capitalist thought (Adam Smith) and its most vocal defender (Ayn Rand) were both atheists.

It has become harder to use Red Scares to rally people against atheists because the Soviet Union is fading from living memory -- everyone under age 25 has lived in a Soviet-free world. This is compounded by the fact that the link between atheism and communism was tenuous at best; both Adam Smith and Ayn Rand were non-believers.[12] Creationists often try to frame Darwinism

Atheism is linked to communism because Christian doctrine has been twisted and all but rewritten to place the practice of unrestricted capitalism before the needs of people and their communities. Income taxes are now denounced as “idolatry,” and property tax as “theft,” and the abolishment on inheritance taxes is anti-Christian for bewildering ways that have been inadequately explained to the authors of this site. (Our requests for better explanations invariably result in angrier, verbatim restatements.)[2] These claims are convoluted by the inconvenient fact that under Stalin’s orders, the USSR officially supported the Russian Orthodox Church, as indicated by how:[13]

  • Priests were allowed in the Soviet camps during the sieges of Stalingrad and Leningrad.
  • The icon of Our Lady of Kazan was carried in a procession on the streets of Leningrad.
  • On September 8, 1943 -- with Stalin’s permission -- Metropolitan Sergius was elected Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), thus normalizing Soviet-ROC relations. The Soviet Union under Stalin and his successors, right up to and including the current Russian regime, recognized the ROC’s role in maintaining the czar’s power by keeping the people in line.

If anything, Christians need to maintain the "atheist communism" narrative alive to distract its capitalist parishioners from Christianity's many commonalities with communists:[14]

  1. Both find all answers in revered books (The Bible; Das Kapital, The “Little Red Book”) which are fanatically accepted without critical analysis. Rejecting these books results in savage persecution.[7]
  2. Both worship “saviors” (Jesus; Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, et.al.)
  3. Both have exalt the philosophers who defend them (Augustine, Aquinas; Marx, Lenin)
  4. Both believe in the physically impossible (miracles/transubstantiation; “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”)
  5. Both cite abstractions to rationalize their actions (e.g., “the word of God”; “the will of the people”).
  6. Both will use force, both direct and institutionalized (i.e., legislation) to impose their beliefs upon others.
  7. Both hate evolution (Creationism; Lysenkoism).
  8. Both routinely falsified their history.
  9. Any progress and/or improvements they have made were only made in a response to its enemies (Council of Trent, Vatican II; glasnost, perestroika).[7]
  10. Both are ideological systems which demand belief in frequently-flawed notions since both systems lack an error self-correcting mechanism.[1]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 P. Boghossian, A Manual for Creating Atheists (Pitchstone Publishing, 2013).
  2. 2.0 2.1 C. Hedges, American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America (Free Press, 2008).
  3. G. H. Smith, Atheism: The Case Against God (Prometheus Books, 2016).
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 G. P. Harrison, 50 Simple Questions for Every Christian (Prometheus Books, 2013).
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 M. Onfrey, In Defense of Atheism: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam (Penguin Canada, 2008).
  6. H. Cox, The Secular City: Secularization and Urbanization in Theological Perspective (Princeton University Press, 2013).
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 B. Russell, edited by P. Edwards, Why I Am Not a Christian (Touchstone, 1967).
  8. C. Hitchens, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Twelve, 2009).
  9. D. Carlin, The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America (Sophia Institute Press, 2003).
  10. 10.0 10.1 K. Blaker, The Fundamentals of Extremism: The Christian Right in America (New Boston Books, 2003).
  11. J. H. Westerhoff, Will Our Children Have Faith? (Morehouse Publishing, 2012).
  12. D. Barker, Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist (Freedom from Religion Foundation, 1992).
  13. V. J. Stenger, The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason (Oxford Prometheus Books, 2009).
  14. S. C. Hitchcock, Disbelief 101: A Young Person's Guide to Atheism (See Sharp Press, 2009).