Difference between revisions of "Preventing Totalitarianism"

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#Atheism is morally and socially corrosive.  
 
#Atheism is morally and socially corrosive.  
  
The third option has grown increasingly popular, since the first two options are harder to sell. Commonly, this takes the form of linking atheism to other (typically political) beliefs, allowing Christians assign the current enemy’s label to atheists and questioners of faith. This label can take on any form, since theism is the only thing which is incompatible with atheism. 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 (e.g., [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid Apartheid], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor 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 at worst, since atheists 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8xbT_4Q4qg 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 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].  
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The third option has grown increasingly popular, since the first two options are harder to sell. Commonly, this takes the form of linking atheism to other (typically political) beliefs, allowing Christians to assign the label of their current enemy to anyone who questions their faith. This label can assume any form, since the only thing which is truly 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 the great crimes of the 20th century (e.g., [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid Apartheid], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor the Holodomor], [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]” is fallacious at best, and malicious at worst, since atheists 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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8xbT_4Q4qg 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 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 committed [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Free_State similar horrors on continental scales].  
 
   
 
   
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli Machiavelli] was the first to (indirectly) argue that totalitarianism and atheism were linked, claiming that Christianity's universal love and acceptance would subvert the nationalism required to build powerful states.<ref name="Cox"> H. Cox, ''The Secular City:  Secularization and Urbanization in Theological Perspective'' (Princeton University Press, 2013).</ref> However, '''totalitarianism is ''not'' exclusive to atheism, because totalitarianism will arise in ''any'' system which can make laws which are ''impossible'' to obey.'''  The resulting tyranny is even more impressive if it can be enforced by a highly-zealous error detecting privileged caste. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell George Orwell]’s [https://youtu.be/iNPHU_ro-1U?t=1m25s ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''] (1949) 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. '''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>
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[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli Machiavelli] was the first to (indirectly) argue that totalitarianism and atheism were linked, claiming that Christianity's universal love and acceptance would subvert the nationalism required to build powerful states.<ref name="Cox"> H. Cox, ''The Secular City:  Secularization and Urbanization in Theological Perspective'' (Princeton University Press, 2013).</ref> However, '''totalitarianism is ''not'' exclusive to atheism, because totalitarianism will naturally arise in ''any'' system which can make laws which are ''impossible'' to obey.'''  The resulting tyranny is even more pronounced when it is enforced by a highly-zealous error-detecting privileged caste. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell George Orwell]’s [https://youtu.be/iNPHU_ro-1U?t=1m25s ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''] (1949) 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 does not turn people into authoritarians or totalitarians, but Christianity caters to the exact wants, needs, and desires of such people'''; it is an enabler. '''Nazism and Stalinism 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>
  
 
== 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>
 
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 Bible's effect on the German people, '''Hitler never outlawed Christianity, and never renounced the church''' -- excluding it’s teachings about aiding the infirm, and how Jesus was a non-Aryan Jew.
 
*Although he lamented the Bible's effect on the German people, '''Hitler never outlawed Christianity, and never renounced the church''' -- excluding it’s teachings about aiding the infirm, and how Jesus was a non-Aryan Jew.
**In particular, Hitler was infatuated with Christ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_QLzthSkfM scourging] the temple’s moneylenders. The Bible only mentions Jesus’ using a scourge once -- in the notably anti-Semitic Gospel of John.<ref name="Onfrey"></ref>
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**In particular, Hitler was infatuated with Christ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_QLzthSkfM scourging] the moneylenders. The Bible only mentioned the scourge once -- in the notably anti-Semitic Gospel of John.<ref name="Onfrey"></ref>
 
*Hitler claimed 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].  
 
*Hitler claimed 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].  
 
*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 pageantry of the church<ref name="Onfrey"></ref> and ancient Rome.<ref name="LateGreat"> H. Lindsey, ''The Late Great Planet Earth'' (Zondervan, 1974).</ref>
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*Hitler’s rallies were inspired by church pageantry<ref name="Onfrey"></ref> and Roman imagery.<ref name="LateGreat"> H. Lindsey, ''The Late Great Planet Earth'' (Zondervan, 1974).</ref>
*Eva Braun’s aunt was a nun cloistered in a convent which Bormann closed. Upon hearing this, Hitler ordered the convent to be reopened, claiming that such measures did more harm than good.
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*Eva Braun’s aunt was a nun cloistered in a convent which [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Bormann Bormann] closed. Upon hearing this, Hitler ordered the convent to be reopened, claiming that such measures did more harm than good.
 
*The German Army fielded Catholic and Protestant chaplains.  
 
*The German Army fielded Catholic and Protestant chaplains.  
*Proof of membership to either the Catholic or Protestant churches was required to join the SS.
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*Proof of Catholic or Protestant church membership was required to join the SS.
*Nazi soldiers had “God is with us” inscribed on their belt buckles. This paraphrases DEU 20:4, when God addressed the Hebrews to fight their Egyptian enemies, to whom God promised an extermination (DEU 20:13).<ref name="Onfrey"></ref>
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*Nazi soldiers had “God is with us” inscribed on their belt buckles. This paraphrased DEU 20:4, when God addressed the Hebrews to fight their Egyptian enemies, to whom God promised an extermination (DEU 20:13).<ref name="Onfrey"></ref>
 
*Hitler admired Islam, for its military tradition.
 
*Hitler admired Islam, for its military tradition.
*When overzealous Nazis 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.<ref name="Blaker"> K. Blaker, ''The Fundamentals of Extremism:  The Christian Right in America'' (New Boston Books, 2003).</ref>
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*When overzealous Nazis removed the crucifixes from Bavarian schools, Hitler ordered them rehung.  
*As soon as Hitler came to power in 1933, the Catholic Church entered [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichskonkordat Reichskonkordat], where the church agreed to remain politically neutral, in exchange for its independence and allowing Catholic schools to remain open. As a result:<ref name="Onfrey"></ref>
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*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.<ref name="Blaker"> K. Blaker, ''The Fundamentals of Extremism:  The Christian Right in America'' (New Boston Books, 2003).</ref>
**'''The Catholic Church approved of German rearmament in the 1930s,''' which was contrary to both the spirit of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles 1919 Treaty of Versailles] and Jesus's teachings of peace, mildness, and loving of one's neighbor.
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*As soon as Hitler came to power in 1933, the Catholic Church entered [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichskonkordat Reichskonkordat], where the church agreed to political neutrality in exchange for its continued independence, and to allow Catholic schools to remain open. As a result:<ref name="Onfrey"></ref>
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**'''The Catholic Church approved of German rearmament in the 1930s,''' which was contrary to spirit of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles 1919 Treaty of Versailles] and to Christ's message of peace, mildness, and loving one's neighbor.
 
**The Catholic Church remained silent over:  
 
**The Catholic Church remained silent over:  
 
***The boycotts of Jewish businesses.
 
***The boycotts of Jewish businesses.
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***The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht Kristallnacht].  
 
***The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht Kristallnacht].  
 
***The discovery of the mass graves, the gas chambers, and the death camps.
 
***The discovery of the mass graves, the gas chambers, and the death camps.
**The Catholic Church provided its genealogical records to the Nazis, which listed all German Christians (i.e., non-Jews). The Catholics Church only defended Jewish converts and Jews married to Christians by using [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontifical_secret pontifical secrecy] as means of information withholding.  
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**The Catholic Church provided its genealogical records to the Nazis, which listed all German Christians (i.e., non-Jews). The Catholic Church only defended Jewish converts and Jews married to Christians by using [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontifical_secret pontifical secrecy] to withhold information.  
 
**The Catholic Church supported, defended, and aided [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ante_Paveli%C4%87 Ante Pavelić]’s pro-Nazi [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usta%C5%A1e Ustachi] regime in Croatia.  
 
**The Catholic Church supported, defended, and aided [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ante_Paveli%C4%87 Ante Pavelić]’s pro-Nazi [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usta%C5%A1e Ustachi] regime in Croatia.  
 
**The Catholic Church gave absolution to France's collaborationist [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_France Vichy regime] in 1940.
 
**The Catholic Church gave absolution to France's collaborationist [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_France Vichy regime] in 1940.
**The Catholic Church endorsed [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa] (i.e., the Soviet invasion), which they perceived as a means of literally combating atheism.  
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**The Catholic Church endorsed [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa] (i.e., the 1941 Axis invasion of the USSR), because they perceived it as a means of literally combating 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 Allies discovered and liberated the extermination camps, the Vatican continued supporting what remained of Hitler’s defeated regime.  
 
**'''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 Allies discovered and liberated the extermination camps, the Vatican continued supporting what remained of Hitler’s defeated regime.  
 
**Hitler was never publicly excommunicated for his crimes against humanity. According to most versions of Christianity, spending a few of his final moments repenting was all he needed to be saved.<ref name="Harrison"></ref>
 
**Hitler was never publicly excommunicated for his crimes against humanity. According to most versions of Christianity, spending a few of his final moments repenting was all he needed to be saved.<ref name="Harrison"></ref>
 
***Likewise, any Holocaust victims who failed to convert to Christianity in their final moments are damned.<ref name="Harrison"></ref>
 
***Likewise, any Holocaust victims who failed to convert to Christianity in their final moments are damned.<ref name="Harrison"></ref>
***[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Himmler Himmler] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Heydrich Reinhard Heydrich] were Catholics, who were never excommunicated for their roles in starting the Holocaust.
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***[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Himmler Himmler] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Heydrich Reinhard Heydrich] were Catholics, and were never excommunicated for their roles in starting the Holocaust.
**The Catholic Church set up a network of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II_aftermath) "ratlines"] to smuggle Nazi war criminals (e.g., [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Eichmann Eichmann], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele Mengele]) out of post-war Europe. The Vatican used its fascist-granted [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateran_Treaty nation-state status] to issue travel visas to fugitive Nazis, and used Europe's monasteries as an “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Railroad underground railroad]” for former Nazi dignitaries and officials.  
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**The Catholic Church set up a network of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II_aftermath) "ratlines"] to smuggle Nazi war criminals (e.g., [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Eichmann Eichmann], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele Mengele]) out of post-war Europe. The Vatican used its fascist-granted [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateran_Treaty nation-state status] to issue travel visas to Nazi fugitives, and used Europe's monasteries as an “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Railroad underground railroad]” for former Nazi dignitaries and officials.  
**The Catholic clergy who worked on behalf of Hitler’s regime were never reprimanded for their involvement, and their promotions within the church’s hierarchy went unimpeded.  
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**The Catholic clergy who worked 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 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Secret_Archives Vatican Secret Archives] have been opened to scholars, '''the Vatican still forbids access to all its documents from 1939 onwards''' to mask their crimes of complacency.
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**The Catholic Church continues to refuse to acknowledged their involvement with the Nazis, despite valid historical evidence to the contrary. Although the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Secret_Archives Vatican Secret Archives] were opened to scholars, up until March 2020<ref name="Atlantic"> D. I. Kertzer, ''What the Vatican’s Secret Archives Are About to Reveal'' [Online] https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/what-vaticans-secret-archives-are-about-reveal/607261/. [Accessed 23 MAY 2020].</ref> '''the Vatican forbade access to all its documents from 1939 onwards''' to mask their crimes of complacency.
  
 
The Christian-Nazi link sadly persists into modern day; as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_Nations Aryan Nation] is itself a branch of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Jesus_Christ%E2%80%93Christian Church of Jesus Christ-Christian].<ref name="Blaker"></ref>
 
The Christian-Nazi link sadly persists into modern day; as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_Nations Aryan Nation] is itself a branch of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Jesus_Christ%E2%80%93Christian Church of Jesus Christ-Christian].<ref name="Blaker"></ref>
  
== Stalin and the Communists ''did not'' Repress Christianity ==
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== Stalin ''Did not'' Repress Christianity ==
  
Although the [https://www.vidio.com/watch/68616-the-beatles-back-in-the-u-s-s-r-lyrics USSR] was “officially atheist” because of its commitment to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz3eOb6Yl1s Marxist dogma], the term “atheistic communism” has always been a misnomer, since Jesus never endorsed any particular economic system.<ref name="Westerhoff"> J. H. Westerhoff, ''Will Our Children Have Faith?'' (Morehouse Publishing, 2012).</ref> If anything, the opposite is true; the founder of capitalist thought ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith Adam Smith]) and its most vocal defender ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand Ayn Rand]) were non-believers.<ref name="Barker"> D. Barker, ''Losing Faith in Faith:  From Preacher to Atheist'' (Freedom from Religion Foundation, 1992).</ref> Atheism ''seems'' linked to communism because Christian doctrine has been twisted and all-but- rewritten to place the practice of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di60NYGu03Y unrestricted capitalism] before the needs of people and their communities. Income taxes are now denounced as “idolatry,” and property tax as “theft,” and inheritance (estate) taxes are anti-Christian for bewildering ways which have been inadequately explained to the authors of this site. (Our requests for better explanations invariably result in angrier, ''verbatim'' restatements.)<ref name="Hedges"></ref>  
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Although the [https://www.vidio.com/watch/68616-the-beatles-back-in-the-u-s-s-r-lyrics USSR] was “officially atheist” because of its commitment to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz3eOb6Yl1s Marxist dogma], the term “atheistic communism” has always been a misnomer, since Jesus never endorsed any particular economic system.<ref name="Westerhoff"> J. H. Westerhoff, ''Will Our Children Have Faith?'' (Morehouse Publishing, 2012).</ref> If anything, the opposite is true; the founder of capitalist thought ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith Adam Smith]) and its most vocal defender ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand Ayn Rand]) were non-believers.<ref name="Barker"> D. Barker, ''Losing Faith in Faith:  From Preacher to Atheist'' (Freedom from Religion Foundation, 1992).</ref> Atheism ''seems'' linked to communism because Christian doctrine has been twisted and all-but-rewritten to place the practice of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di60NYGu03Y unrestricted capitalism] before the needs of people and their communities. Income taxes are now denounced as “idolatry,” and property tax as “theft,” and inheritance (estate) taxes are anti-Christian for bewildering ways which have been inadequately explained to the authors of this site. (Our requests for better explanations invariably result in angrier, ''verbatim'' restatements.)<ref name="Hedges"></ref>  
  
While the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians_in_the_Soviet_Union#Anti-religious_campaign_1928.E2.80.931941 early Soviet leaders '''''were''''' militantly anti-religious], this was reversed when '''under Stalin’s orders -- the USSR officially supported the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Orthodox_Church Russian Orthodox Church]''' (ROC).<ref name="Stenger2"> V. J. Stenger, ''The New Atheism:  Taking a Stand for Science and Reason'' (Oxford Prometheus Books, 2009).</ref> On September 8, 1943 -- with Stalin’s permission -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_bishop Metropolitan] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarch_Sergius_of_Moscow Sergius] was elected Patriarch of the ROC, thus normalizing Soviet-ROC relations. Stalin, and his successors up to and including the current Russian regime, recognized the ROC kept the people in line, and this was why the czars were able to maintain power for so long. Additionally:
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While [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians_in_the_Soviet_Union#Anti-religious_campaign_1928.E2.80.931941 early Soviet leaders '''''were''''' militantly anti-religious], this was reversed when '''under Stalin’s orders -- the USSR officially supported the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Orthodox_Church Russian Orthodox Church]''' (ROC).<ref name="Stenger2"> V. J. Stenger, ''The New Atheism:  Taking a Stand for Science and Reason'' (Oxford Prometheus Books, 2009).</ref> On September 8, 1943 -- with Stalin’s permission -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_bishop Metropolitan] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarch_Sergius_of_Moscow Sergius] was elected Patriarch of the ROC, thus normalizing Soviet-ROC relations. Stalin, and his successors up to and including the current Russian regime, recognized the ROC kept the people in line, and this was what enabled the czars to maintain power for so long. Additionally:
 
*Priests were allowed in the Soviet encampments during the sieges of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad Stalingrad] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Leningrad Leningrad].  
 
*Priests were allowed in the Soviet encampments during the sieges of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad Stalingrad] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Leningrad Leningrad].  
 
*The icon of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Kazan Our Lady of Kazan] was carried in a procession on the streets of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgD_-dRZPgs Leningrad].  
 
*The icon of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Kazan Our Lady of Kazan] was carried in a procession on the streets of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgD_-dRZPgs Leningrad].  
  
 
If anything, Christians keep the "atheistic communism" narrative alive to distract its capitalist parishioners from Christianity's numerous commonalities with the communists:<ref name="Hitchcock"> S. C. Hitchcock, ''Disbelief 101:  A Young Person's Guide to Atheism'' (See Sharp Press, 2009).</ref>
 
If anything, Christians keep the "atheistic communism" narrative alive to distract its capitalist parishioners from Christianity's numerous commonalities with the communists:<ref name="Hitchcock"> S. C. Hitchcock, ''Disbelief 101:  A Young Person's Guide to Atheism'' (See Sharp Press, 2009).</ref>
#Both claim all answers are found in revered books (e.g., [[The_Bible_is_not_Credible|The Bible]]; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital:_Critique_of_Political_Economy Das Kapital], The “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotations_from_Chairman_Mao_Tse-tung#Images_from_.22The_Little_Red_Book.22 Little Red Book”]) which are fanatically accepted without critical analysis. Rejecting these books results in savage persecution.<ref name=" Russell-Not "></ref>
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#Both claim all answers are found in revered books which are fanatically accepted without critical analysis (e.g., [[The_Bible_is_not_Credible|The Bible]]; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital:_Critique_of_Political_Economy Das Kapital], The “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotations_from_Chairman_Mao_Tse-tung#Images_from_.22The_Little_Red_Book.22 Little Red Book”]). Rejecting these books results in savage persecution.<ref name=" Russell-Not "></ref>
 
#Both worship “saviors” (e.g., Jesus; Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, ''et. al.'')
 
#Both worship “saviors” (e.g., Jesus; Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, ''et. al.'')
 
#Both exalt the philosophers defending their systems (e.g., Augustine, Aquinas; Marx, Lenin)
 
#Both exalt the philosophers defending their systems (e.g., Augustine, Aquinas; Marx, Lenin)
#Both believe in the physically impossible ([http://www.smitingshepherds.com/Argument_from_Miracles miracles, transubstantiation]; “[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU Dictatorship of the Proletariat]”)
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#Both believe in the physically impossible (e.g., [http://www.smitingshepherds.com/Argument_from_Miracles miracles, transubstantiation]; the “[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU Dictatorship of the Proletariat]”)
 
#Both rationalize their actions via citing abstractions (e.g., “the word of God”; “the will of the people”).
 
#Both rationalize their actions via citing abstractions (e.g., “the word of God”; “the will of the people”).
#Both will use force, both [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnF1OtP2Svk direct] and institutionalized (i.e., legislation) to impose their beliefs upon others.
+
#Both will use [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnF1OtP2Svk direct force] and institutionalized force (i.e., legislation) to impose their beliefs upon others.
#Both hate evolution ([[Creationism_is_False|creationism]]; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism Lysenkoism]).
+
#Both have vendettas against the teaching of Darwinian evolution (e.g., [[Creationism_is_False|creationism]]; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism Lysenkoism]).
 
#Both routinely falsified their history.  
 
#Both routinely falsified their history.  
#Any progress and/or improvements they have made were only in response to their enemies (e.g. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Trent Council of Trent], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council Vatican II]; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasnost ''glasnost''], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perestroika ''perestroika'']).<ref name=" Russell-Not "></ref>
+
#Any progress and/or improvements were only made in response to their enemies (e.g. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Trent Council of Trent], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council Vatican II]; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasnost ''glasnost''], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perestroika ''perestroika'']).<ref name=" Russell-Not "></ref>
 
#Both are ideological systems which demand followers to ignore their [[Points_of_Contention|numerous flaws and shortcomings]], all of which were caused by their system's lack of error detection and self-correction mechanisms.<ref name="Boghossian"></ref>
 
#Both are ideological systems which demand followers to ignore their [[Points_of_Contention|numerous flaws and shortcomings]], all of which were caused by their system's lack of error detection and self-correction mechanisms.<ref name="Boghossian"></ref>
  
Modern Christians are harder to rally with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare Red Scares], since the Soviet Union is fading from living memory -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union '''everyone under age 26 has lived in a Soviet-free world''']. Still, there are some stragglers, holdouts, and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society John Birchers] who persist.
+
Modern Christians are harder to rally with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare Red Scares], since the Soviet Union is fading from living memory -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union '''everyone under age 29 has lived in a Soviet-free world''']. Still, there are some stragglers, holdouts, and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society John Birchers] who persist.
  
 
==References==
 
==References==

Latest revision as of 17:49, 23 May 2020

There are only three defensive arguments 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 popular, since the first two options are harder to sell. Commonly, this takes the form of linking atheism to other (typically political) beliefs, allowing Christians to assign the label of their current enemy to anyone who questions their faith. This label can assume any form, since the only thing which is truly incompatible with atheism is theism. Typically, this label is that of a detested totalitarian group, usually one which was responsible for the great crimes of the 20th century (e.g., Apartheid, the Holodomor, the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, etc.).[2] This practice of “guilt by association” is fallacious at best, and malicious at worst, since atheists 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 access to assault rifles and tanks instead of pikes and trebuchets -- especially since the Christian kings of 19th century Europe were committed similar horrors on continental scales.

Machiavelli was the first to (indirectly) argue that totalitarianism and atheism were linked, claiming that Christianity's universal love and acceptance would subvert the nationalism required to build powerful states.[6] However, totalitarianism is not exclusive to atheism, because totalitarianism will naturally arise in any system which can make laws which are impossible to obey. The resulting tyranny is even more pronounced when it is enforced by a highly-zealous error-detecting privileged caste. George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) was inspired by his childhood experiences at a Christian private school, where it wasn’t possible to know when you had broken the rules.[7]People with authoritarian personalities have greater tendencies towards ethnocentricity, xenophobia, sexual repression, and a love of hierarchy and dogma.[8] Christianity does not turn people into authoritarians or totalitarians, but Christianity caters to the exact wants, needs, and desires of such people; it is an enabler. Nazism and Stalinism took hold in part, because churches had conditioned the population to accept dogmatism.[9]

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 Bible's effect on the German people, Hitler never outlawed Christianity, and never renounced the church -- excluding it’s teachings about aiding the infirm, and how Jesus was a non-Aryan Jew.
    • In particular, Hitler was infatuated with Christ scourging the moneylenders. The Bible only mentioned the scourge once -- in the notably anti-Semitic Gospel of John.[5]
  • Hitler claimed 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 church pageantry[5] and Roman imagery.[10]
  • Eva Braun’s aunt was a nun cloistered in a convent which Bormann closed. Upon hearing this, Hitler ordered the convent to be reopened, claiming that such measures did more harm than good.
  • The German Army fielded Catholic and Protestant chaplains.
  • Proof of Catholic or Protestant church membership was required to join the SS.
  • Nazi soldiers had “God is with us” inscribed on their belt buckles. This paraphrased DEU 20:4, when God addressed the Hebrews to fight their Egyptian enemies, to whom God promised an extermination (DEU 20:13).[5]
  • Hitler admired Islam, for its military tradition.
  • When overzealous Nazis 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.[11]
  • As soon as Hitler came to power in 1933, the Catholic Church entered Reichskonkordat, where the church agreed to political neutrality in exchange for its continued independence, and to allow Catholic schools to remain open. As a result:[5]
    • The Catholic Church approved of German rearmament in the 1930s, which was contrary to spirit of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles and to Christ's message of peace, mildness, and loving one's neighbor.
    • The Catholic Church remained silent over:
      • The boycotts of Jewish businesses.
      • The proclamation of the Nuremberg 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 listed all German Christians (i.e., non-Jews). The Catholic Church only defended Jewish converts and Jews married to Christians by using pontifical secrecy to withhold information.
    • The Catholic Church supported, defended, and aided Ante Pavelić’s pro-Nazi Ustachi regime in Croatia.
    • The Catholic Church gave absolution to France's collaborationist Vichy regime in 1940.
    • The Catholic Church endorsed Operation Barbarossa (i.e., the 1941 Axis invasion of the USSR), because they perceived it as a means of literally combating 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 Allies discovered and liberated the extermination camps, the Vatican continued supporting what remained of Hitler’s defeated regime.
    • Hitler was never publicly excommunicated for his crimes against humanity. According to most versions of Christianity, spending a few of his final moments repenting was all he needed to be saved.[4]
      • Likewise, any Holocaust victims who failed to convert to Christianity in their final moments are 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 of "ratlines" to smuggle Nazi war criminals (e.g., Eichmann, Mengele) out of post-war Europe. The Vatican used its fascist-granted nation-state status to issue travel visas to Nazi fugitives, and used Europe's monasteries as an “underground railroad” for former Nazi dignitaries and officials.
    • The Catholic clergy who worked 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 continues to refuse to acknowledged their involvement with the Nazis, despite valid historical evidence to the contrary. Although the Vatican Secret Archives were opened to scholars, up until March 2020[12] the Vatican forbade access to all its documents from 1939 onwards to mask their crimes of complacency.

The Christian-Nazi link sadly persists into modern day; as the Aryan Nation is itself a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ-Christian.[11]

Stalin Did not Repress Christianity

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.[13] If anything, the opposite is true; the founder of capitalist thought (Adam Smith) and its most vocal defender (Ayn Rand) were non-believers.[14] Atheism seems 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 inheritance (estate) taxes are anti-Christian for bewildering ways which have been inadequately explained to the authors of this site. (Our requests for better explanations invariably result in angrier, verbatim restatements.)[2]

While early Soviet leaders were militantly anti-religious, this was reversed when under Stalin’s orders -- the USSR officially supported the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC).[15] On September 8, 1943 -- with Stalin’s permission -- Metropolitan Sergius was elected Patriarch of the ROC, thus normalizing Soviet-ROC relations. Stalin, and his successors up to and including the current Russian regime, recognized the ROC kept the people in line, and this was what enabled the czars to maintain power for so long. Additionally:

If anything, Christians keep the "atheistic communism" narrative alive to distract its capitalist parishioners from Christianity's numerous commonalities with the communists:[16]

  1. Both claim all answers are found in revered books which are fanatically accepted without critical analysis (e.g., The Bible; Das Kapital, The “Little Red Book”). Rejecting these books results in savage persecution.[9]
  2. Both worship “saviors” (e.g., Jesus; Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, et. al.)
  3. Both exalt the philosophers defending their systems (e.g., Augustine, Aquinas; Marx, Lenin)
  4. Both believe in the physically impossible (e.g., miracles, transubstantiation; the “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”)
  5. Both rationalize their actions via citing abstractions (e.g., “the word of God”; “the will of the people”).
  6. Both will use direct force and institutionalized force (i.e., legislation) to impose their beliefs upon others.
  7. Both have vendettas against the teaching of Darwinian evolution (e.g., creationism; Lysenkoism).
  8. Both routinely falsified their history.
  9. Any progress and/or improvements were only made in response to their enemies (e.g. Council of Trent, Vatican II; glasnost, perestroika).[9]
  10. Both are ideological systems which demand followers to ignore their numerous flaws and shortcomings, all of which were caused by their system's lack of error detection and self-correction mechanisms.[1]

Modern Christians are harder to rally with Red Scares, since the Soviet Union is fading from living memory -- everyone under age 29 has lived in a Soviet-free world. Still, there are some stragglers, holdouts, and John Birchers who persist.

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. C. Hitchens, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Twelve, 2009).
  8. D. Carlin, The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America (Sophia Institute Press, 2003).
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 B. Russell, edited by P. Edwards, Why I Am Not a Christian (Touchstone, 1967).
  10. H. Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth (Zondervan, 1974).
  11. 11.0 11.1 K. Blaker, The Fundamentals of Extremism: The Christian Right in America (New Boston Books, 2003).
  12. D. I. Kertzer, What the Vatican’s Secret Archives Are About to Reveal [Online] https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/what-vaticans-secret-archives-are-about-reveal/607261/. [Accessed 23 MAY 2020].
  13. J. H. Westerhoff, Will Our Children Have Faith? (Morehouse Publishing, 2012).
  14. D. Barker, Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist (Freedom from Religion Foundation, 1992).
  15. V. J. Stenger, The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason (Oxford Prometheus Books, 2009).
  16. S. C. Hitchcock, Disbelief 101: A Young Person's Guide to Atheism (See Sharp Press, 2009).