Atheism The Real Force Behind The Mass Murders Of History

[Kulapavana]

<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>Source: www.csmonitor.com</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD vAlign=top></TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD><TD vAlign=top></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>from the November 21, 2006 edition

 

Atheism, Not Religion, Is The Real Force Behind The Mass Murders Of History By Dinesh D'Souza

 

RANCHO SANTA FE, CALIF. – In recent months, a spate of atheist books have argued that religion represents, as "End of Faith" author Sam Harris puts it, "the most potent source of human conflict, past and present."

 

Columnist Robert Kuttner gives the familiar litany. "The Crusades slaughtered millions in the name of Jesus. The Inquisition brought the torture and murder of millions more. After Martin Luther, Christians did bloody battle with other Christians for another three centuries."

 

In his bestseller "The God Delusion," Richard Dawkins contends that most of the world's recent conflicts - in the Middle East, in the Balkans, in Northern Ireland, in Kashmir, and in Sri Lanka - show the vitality of religion's murderous impulse.

 

The problem with this critique is that it exaggerates the crimes attributed to religion, while ignoring the greater crimes of secular fanaticism. The best example of religious persecution in America is the Salem witch trials. How many people were killed in those trials? Thousands? Hundreds? Actually, fewer than 25. Yet the event still haunts the liberal imagination.

 

It is strange to witness the passion with which some secular figures rail against the misdeeds of the Crusaders and Inquisitors more than 500 years ago. The number sentenced to death by the Spanish Inquisition appears to be about 10,000. Some historians contend that an additional 100,000 died in jail due to malnutrition or illness.

 

These figures are tragic, and of course population levels were much lower at the time. But even so, they are minuscule compared with the death tolls produced by the atheist despotisms of the 20th century. In the name of creating their version of a religion-free utopia, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong produced the kind of mass slaughter that no Inquisitor could possibly match. Collectively these atheist tyrants murdered more than 100 million people.

 

Moreover, many of the conflicts that are counted as "religious wars" were not fought over religion. They were mainly fought over rival claims to territory and power. Can the wars between England and France be called religious wars because the English were Protestants and the French were Catholics? Hardly.

 

The same is true today. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not, at its core, a religious one. It arises out of a dispute over self-determination and land. Hamas and the extreme orthodox parties in Israel may advance theological claims - "God gave us this land" and so forth - but the conflict would remain essentially the same even without these religious motives. Ethnic rivalry, not religion, is the source of the tension in Northern Ireland and the Balkans.

 

Blindly blaming religion for conflict

 

Yet today's atheists insist on making religion the culprit. Consider Mr. Harris's analysis of the conflict in Sri Lanka. "While the motivations of the Tamil Tigers are not explicitly religious," he informs us, "they are Hindus who undoubtedly believe many improbable things about the nature of life and death." In other words, while the Tigers see themselves as combatants in a secular political struggle, Harris detects a religious motive because these people happen to be Hindu and surely there must be some underlying religious craziness that explains their fanaticism.

 

Harris can go on forever in this vein. Seeking to exonerate secularism and atheism from the horrors perpetrated in their name, he argues that Stalinism and Maoism were in reality "little more than a political religion." As for Nazism, "while the hatred of Jews in Germany expressed itself in a predominantly secular way, it was a direct inheritance from medieval Christianity." Indeed, "The holocaust marked the culmination of ... two thousand years of Christian fulminating against the Jews."

 

One finds the same inanities in Mr. Dawkins's work. Don't be fooled by this rhetorical legerdemain. Dawkins and Harris cannot explain why, if Nazism was directly descended from medieval Christianity, medieval Christianity did not produce a Hitler. How can a self-proclaimed atheist ideology, advanced by Hitler as a repudiation of Christianity, be a "culmination" of 2,000 years of Christianity? Dawkins and Harris are employing a transparent sleight of hand that holds Christianity responsible for the crimes committed in its name, while exonerating secularism and atheism for the greater crimes committed in their name.

 

Religious fanatics have done things that are impossible to defend, and some of them, mostly in the Muslim world, are still performing horrors in the name of their creed. But if religion sometimes disposes people to self-righteousness and absolutism, it also provides a moral code that condemns the slaughter of innocents. In particular, the moral teachings of Jesus provide no support for - indeed they stand as a stern rebuke to - the historical injustices perpetrated in the name of Christianity.

 

Atheist hubris

 

The crimes of atheism have generally been perpetrated through a hubristic ideology that sees man, not God, as the creator of values. Using the latest techniques of science and technology, man seeks to displace God and create a secular utopia here on earth. Of course if some people - the Jews, the landowners, the unfit, or the handicapped - have to be eliminated in order to achieve this utopia, this is a price the atheist tyrants and their apologists have shown themselves quite willing to pay. Thus they confirm the truth of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's dictum, "If God is not, everything is permitted."

 

Whatever the motives for atheist bloodthirstiness, the indisputable fact is that all the religions of the world put together have in 2,000 years not managed to kill as many people as have been killed in the name of atheism in the past few decades.

 

It's time to abandon the mindlessly repeated mantra that religious belief has been the greatest source of human conflict and violence. Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history.

[AncientMariner]

That's a really good article. Enjoyed reading it. I really wish intelligent people like the person that wrote that article were anywhere to be found when I was going through college. I had some good teachers but the overall philosophy of the institution seemed to be directed by burnt out hippies (not that there is anything wrong with being a hippy or a burnt out hippy) turned nihilists. Truly a powerful article.

[theist]

Great article. I love Dinesh D'Souza. I have only read one of his books, The End of Racism. He has a fresh perspective on issues. He worked in the White House as a policy analyst and advisor to Ronald Reagon.

 

Here's his bio.

http://www.dineshdsouza.com/more/about.html

[AncientMariner]

 

Great article. I love Dinesh D'Souza. I have only read one of his books, The End of Racism. He has a fresh perspective on issues. He worked in the White House as a policy analyst and advisor to Ronald Reagon.

 

Here's his bio.

http://www.dineshdsouza.com/more/about.html

 

 

Wow, I read his biography and I got to say this is one impressive human being. I am thinking about ordering some of his books.

[Guest guest]

In regard to the Cathars, a "heresy" that the Church wiped out in the so-called Abligensian Crusade in Southern France, the following information is given in the CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA:

 

 

The dualism of the Albigenses was also the basis of their moral teaching. Man, they taught, is a living contradiction. Hence, the liberation of the soul from its captivity in the body is the true end of our being. To attain this, suicide is commendable; it was customary among them in the form of the endura (starvation). The extinction of bodily life on the largest scale consistent with human existence is also a perfect aim. As generation propagates the slavery of the soul to the body, perpetual chastity should be practiced. Matrimonial intercourse is unlawful; concubinage, being of a less permanent nature, is preferable to marriage. Abandonment of his wife by the husband, or vice versa, is desirable. Generation was abhorred by the Albigenses even in the animal kingdom. Consequently, abstention from all animal food, except fish, was enjoined. Their belief in metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls, the result of their logical rejection of purgatory, furnishes another explanation for the same abstinence. To this practice they added long and rigorous fasts. The necessity of absolute fidelity to the sect was strongly inculcated. War and capital punishment were absolutely condemned.

 

 

ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH

 

Properly speaking, Albigensianism was not a Christian heresy but an extra-Christian religion. Ecclesiastical authority, after persuasion had failed, adopted a course of severe repression, which led at times to regrettable excess. Simon of Montfort intended well at first, but later used the pretext of religion to usurp the territory of the Counts of Toulouse. The death penalty was, indeed, inflicted too freely on the Albigenses, but it must be remembered that the penal code of the time was considerably more rigorous than ours, and the excesses were sometimes provoked. Raymond VI and his successor, Raymond VII, were, when in distress, ever ready to promise, but never to earnestly amend. Pope Innocent III was justified in saying that the Albigenses were "worse than the Saracens"; and still he counselled moderation and disapproved of the selfish policy adopted by Simon of Montfort. What the Church combated was principles that led directly not only to the ruin of Christianity, but to the very extinction of the human race.

 

 

 

+++++++++++

 

what the Encyclopaedia fails to mention is that somewhere around 1,000,000 people following the Cathar faith were killed by the Catholics during this war of aggression.

 

What was their sin?

 

Well,

The church decreed that being a vegetarian was a sin.

It was also a sin to speak the truth about the evil things done by the church leadership.

 

They burned alive all the people in Béziers. They burned children and babies in the arms of their mothers.

 

One million vegetarians were killed in this pogrom in Southern France.

 

So, think again, when you think about <b>The Real Force Behind The Mass Murders Of History.

[Guest guest]

 

medieval Christianity did not produce a Hitler.

 

 

Yes it did

 

His name is Pope Innocent III

 

The Church he ruled was very wealthy. It was made rich by the institution of feudalism, a system where serfs (slaves) worked for their masters and had next to no freedom. Many monasteries and bishops owned large estates worked by slaves (serfs). They clergy lived in luxury, the serfs were slaves. This is the history of European civilization.

[AncientMariner]

 

In regard to the Cathars, a "heresy" that the Church wiped out in the so-called Abligensian Crusade in Southern France, the following information is given in the CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA:

 

 

The dualism of the Albigenses was also the basis of their moral teaching. Man, they taught, is a living contradiction. Hence, the liberation of the soul from its captivity in the body is the true end of our being. To attain this, suicide is commendable; it was customary among them in the form of the endura (starvation). The extinction of bodily life on the largest scale consistent with human existence is also a perfect aim. As generation propagates the slavery of the soul to the body, perpetual chastity should be practiced. Matrimonial intercourse is unlawful; concubinage, being of a less permanent nature, is preferable to marriage. Abandonment of his wife by the husband, or vice versa, is desirable. Generation was abhorred by the Albigenses even in the animal kingdom. Consequently, abstention from all animal food, except fish, was enjoined. Their belief in metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls, the result of their logical rejection of purgatory, furnishes another explanation for the same abstinence. To this practice they added long and rigorous fasts. The necessity of absolute fidelity to the sect was strongly inculcated. War and capital punishment were absolutely condemned.

 

 

ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH

 

Properly speaking, Albigensianism was not a Christian heresy but an extra-Christian religion. Ecclesiastical authority, after persuasion had failed, adopted a course of severe repression, which led at times to regrettable excess. Simon of Montfort intended well at first, but later used the pretext of religion to usurp the territory of the Counts of Toulouse. The death penalty was, indeed, inflicted too freely on the Albigenses, but it must be remembered that the penal code of the time was considerably more rigorous than ours, and the excesses were sometimes provoked. Raymond VI and his successor, Raymond VII, were, when in distress, ever ready to promise, but never to earnestly amend. Pope Innocent III was justified in saying that the Albigenses were "worse than the Saracens"; and still he counselled moderation and disapproved of the selfish policy adopted by Simon of Montfort. What the Church combated was principles that led directly not only to the ruin of Christianity, but to the very extinction of the human race.

 

 

 

+++++++++++

 

what the Encyclopaedia fails to mention is that somewhere around 1,000,000 people following the Cathar faith were killed by the Catholics during this war of aggression.

 

What was their sin?

 

Well,

The church decreed that being a vegetarian was a sin.

It was also a sin to speak the truth about the evil things done by the church leadership.

 

They burned alive all the people in Béziers. They burned children and babies in the arms of their mothers.

 

One million vegetarians were killed in this pogrom in Southern France.

 

So, think again, when you think about The Real Force Behind The Mass Murders Of History.

 

 

 

I don't think the authors contention is that religous extremism hasn't caused death and murder just that compared to atheism it is a drop in the bucket because apparently the atheistic despotisms of the 20th century alone have killed 100's of millions of people.

[theist]

 

Wow, I read his biography and I got to say this is one impressive human being. I am thinking about ordering some of his books.

 

AM, Yeah he is great. I wonder if he is a veggie?

[Guest guest]

Theist

 

It looks to me like some people would like to distort the real truth which is that the so-called church has massacred millions of people in the name of the creed of brotherly love.

[theist]

 

Theist

 

It looks to me like some people would like to distort the real truth which is that the so-called church has massacred millions of people in the name of the creed of brotherly love.

 

AM already said it.

 

AM-I don't think the authors contention is that religous extremism hasn't caused death and murder just that compared to atheism it is a drop in the bucket because apparently the atheistic despotisms of the 20th century alone have killed 100's of millions of people.

IF it were a football game (real football-American style) the score would be Atheist Mass Murders 91 vs. Religious Mass Murders 3.

 

Of course the sub-human Muslim Jihadists arew trying to catch up as fast as they can but they have a long way to go to catch up with Stalin or Mao.

[suchandra]

 

Theist

 

It looks to me like some people would like to distort the real truth which is that the so-called church has massacred millions of people in the name of the creed of brotherly love.

 

As we pray "..sarira avidya-jal, jodendriya tahe kal", "..our material senses are a network of paths that lead to death..".

Who are actually the main culprits who keep people stuck in ignorance about the actual goal of life and drive people into desperation by making sure that society runs only on material values? These are of course the demoniac atheistic government and the rascal kali-yuga mass medias who will have to face being torn to pieces by heavy karmas in their next 10 million lifetimes.

 

 

Alone in US the past 20 years over 1 million people committed suicide because of seeing no hope in this demoniac money based living condition enforced by spiritual dead leaders of this country. However, this is never mentioned anywhere, they have the numbers but the rascals keep silent. Instead the government invents one by one just more and more crazy making situations of purposefully running people into joblessness and devaluate money what strikes the poor.

The medias commenting of one voice, well, this is Darwin's natural selection, only the strongest survive...

[theist]

WOW. Yeah you are so right. Mass murder by subtle means. Harder to see, impossible for humans to prosecute even if seen but Yama's men will have no problem.

 

ps As an acrophobic that picture had me clutching my chair and leaning straight back. =:-o

[Ayodhya]

 

ps As an acrophobic that picture had me clutching my chair and leaning straight back. =:-o

 

Me too!!!

On my trip to the Eiffel Tower I mustered the strength to actually look down from the top. Absolutely terrifying!