What do you think of this statement by author Sam Harris ...?

Question

who wrote End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation?
"People of faith often claim that the crimes of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot were the inevitable product of unbelief. The problem with fascism and communism, however, is not that they are too critical of religion; the problem is that they are too much like religions. Such regimes are dogmatic to the core and generally give rise to personality cults that are indistinguishable from cults of religious hero worship. Auschwitz, the gulag and the killing fields were not examples of what happens when human beings reject religious dogma; they are examples of political, racial and nationalistic dogma run amok. There is no society in human history that ever suffered because its people became too reasonable."

Godless. I agree 100%, but I have learned to take what I can get on this issue! Thanks for contributing

Answer 1

Nice try trying to pass the buck. The truth is, the philosophies of Hegel, Neitche, and Marx alone, killed more people than all of the religious wars in history. Hundreds of millions. And by the way, the biggest "persecution" of the Christian Church in Roman times was instigated when a "reasonable" Roman Philosopher named Marcus Aurilieus took the throne. So much for "reason"....theBerean

Answer 2

I think that Harris is correct, but he glosses over the point too much. That's one of the problems I have with Harris, he makes vague generalizations and doesn't get specific. In this instance, he fails to address the question of religion as a factor *contributing* to tyranny.

Dictators attempt to replace their people's gods. Yes, it's about political power, but it's also about religious power. They don't just want to be followed, they want to be worshiped. You can't look back and just shove that aside, and say, "Oh, that wasn't about atheism, that was just politics." It's too similar to Christian apologetics for my liking.

Hitler was a Christian, and his beliefs influenced his actions. Casting himself in the role of Jesus' avenger, he was able to justify, to himself and the rest of the country, the Nazi party's treatment of the Jews.

Communism was a comprehensive, all-embracing religion and not simply a political party, political system or philosophy. This fact is illustrated by the numerous ways in which Communism embraced and attempted to promulgate peculiar quasi-religious (and often clearly anti-scientific) beliefs which had nothing all to do with politics or government.

Throughout the three decades that Mao ruled China, the organizations of the "three self movement" worked with the Chinese Communist Party to eliminate religion and to promote the "atheist" ideologies of the Communist Party. Maoism became China's only legal religion, and Mao's "Little Red Book" its primary religious text.

It's still all about religion. They weren't trying to eliminate it, they were trying to eliminate the worship of everything except themselves. Were they really atheists? I don't think so.

Answer 3

It's a perfect answer to the idiotic suggestion that atheism is responsible for those crimes against humanity.

Answer 4

He's saying that people cannot accept the fact that their religions and political systems have errors and get ****** up. Nothing and nobody is perfect...

I completely agree with this guy.