Is religion the mainly cause of all bad things? what about Stalin and Mao?

Question

Religion has made a lot of bad things happen: rapes,abuses,killings,mutilation even War and terrorism..but what about Mao and Stalin? Aren't they tragic examples of atheism?

so what the heck is the right?

Answer 1

Fanaticism--religious or ideological--is the cause of bad things.

Answer 2

Blame humanity for all that has happened.

As for Mao and Stalin:

Your comparing a Communist state sponsored initiative of banning religion to someone's choice. The one primary difference is that the populace of these countries did not have the right to choose their belief system. The government was looking to ban all forms of religions.

Atheism in the western world is a choice made by those who have the right to pursue any system of belief they would like, or lack thereof.

Answer 3

Religion didn't "make" them happen anyway -- they were just the way that people try to excuse the atrocities. And being athiest was not the main justification behind the actions of Mao or Stalin either.

Answer 4

The difference is that Stalin and Mao did not behave badly in the name of atheism. Whereas the crusades, inquisition, witch trials, 9-11, were all done in the name of god.

Answer 5

There is nothing about atheism to prevent one being a monster. Religion on the other hand is built to be confrontational. You could multiply the deaths caused by all atheists by 1000 and that still would not equal half of the deaths caused by relgious zealots!

Answer 6

unfortunately, nothing is that black & white. people fear what they dont understand. that is a basic trait u can find walkin down the street or reading history. & when 1 religion believes they r the only right way, that will cause problems w/ every other religion (thats not a dis on christians, its just when u believe that & try 2 force it on other ppl, that will obviously cause a problem). that being said, religion or lack there of doesnt cause person 2 go bad. they could b born that way or it could lots of reasons.

Answer 7

Stalin and Mao killed not in the name of atheism but in the name of their chosen ideology. communism, which like religion promotes a cult of personality, exerts strong central control and adoes not tolerate dissenters.

Answer 8

No, those were all done in the name of Communism. Communism does not equal atheism, it's really not that hard to figure out. One's a political belief (communism) the other is a lack of belief in Gods (atheism). No one has ever killed in the name of atheism.

Answer 9

Any group that places an ideology over human dignity is capable of doing pretty horrendous deeds. Ideologues are less likely to see injury than people who place life and dignity at the forefront of their thinking.

And in that way, communists have much more in common with Christians than they do Atheists.

Answer 10

The problem with communism and fascism were that they were too much like religions in that they called on people to blindly follow in the same manor as the religions do.

The fact is that neither example was BECAUSE they were atheists. It was strictly about power.

Answer 11

Religion hasn't made a lot of bad things happen. People, avaricious, insecure, rapacious and kleptocratic people have made a lot of bad things happen. Religion is just a nifty way to sell the idea to the non-thinking masses.