Most people like Lenin, Trotsky, Bhagat Singh, Marx, Bakunin who carried out a revolution were atheists. Why?

Question

Does atheism have anything to do with rebellious nature of mankind?

Most people like Lenin, Trotsky, Bhagat Singh, Marx, Bakunin who carried out a SUCCESSFUL revolution in their countries were atheists. Why?

Are theists going to attack this question?

Answer 1

This is a great question -- let me give it a try.

You're quite right, revolutionaries tend also to be athiests. I don't think that athiesm leads to revolutionary activity, but that some athiests may rejct the idea of God, and yet still retain the intense need to believe in something larger than themselves. For the revolutionary this "larger something" becomes "the people."

Political action takes the place of religious piety, the people become the new god, and the idea of the classless society becomes the new model of heaven -- but heaven on earth, only realizable through concrete actions, and not on salvation from above.

The revolutionary simply needs to believe in something bigger -- an ideal, a perfection that is attainable in human historical terms. This is why revolutionaries tend to exhibit the same psychological profiles of religious zealots. If you think about it, psychologically, what's the real practical difference between, say, Lenin and bin Laden?

Once again -- great question.

Answer 2

you selectively chose Marxists and asked question why the revolution carried out by atheists. the answer is simple Marxism does not believe in atheism. revolution has nothing to do with atheism. there are several revolutionaries who are not atheists.a cursory look at the independent movement of India tells you most of the revolutionaries like aurobindo ghosh, veerendranath chatopadhya,vir savarkar, jatin and members of gaddar party and lala lajapathi Roy were not atheists.most of them were inspired by the bhagavadgeetha and vande mataram song. for your information, i am staunch atheist but also a rationalist and i have to admit that believers also revolutionaries.

Answer 3

Because, as Marx extablished "eligion is the opiate of the people", so the various communist revolutionaries followed this idea and understood religion, as mere trickery, used by the ruling classes to control their people

Answer 4

No one Liked Lenin.He forced people to like him.Same with Marx but how can you mix up thees boys with Bhagat Singh? You forgot Fidel Castro of Cuba!

Answer 5

Marx lead a succesful revolution???

Answer 6

because they were enlightened, they chose not to follow in the path laid out by religion, and it is only when one stops following blindly, and starts questioning things, that the though of revolutionizing the whole system comes.

Answer 7

thier successful don' t relate to atheistic. they could investigate external fact very well . furthermore were they succeeded really? the ussr collapsed.

Answer 8

Because they hate USA.