If we're largely agreed atheists aren't necessarily communists...?

Question

...why do I keep seeing North Korea and the former USSR held up as atheist countries?

http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AoqrlLEMtJkXgdRqMS_lOPcFEBV.?qid=20070424061158AAInefN

We might actually think the whole concept is fatuous.

We might have read the allegation that atheists are communists in this forum more than once.

We might have read the allegation that both North Korea and the USSR are/were atheist countries on this forum more than once.

We might well wonder where those notions came from.

We might wonder if asking such questions will stop fundies arguing that there are just as many "bad" things done "in the name of" atheism as in the name of religion.

Or we might just be sitting here wishing someone would come along and patronise us.

A. Mercer you misread me, that's exactly my point. I think saying something has been done "in the name of atheism" is meaningless, and quite insulting. It's like saying people went on a killing spree because they had blue eyes - although even that would make more sense...

Answer 1

I have seen it many times when atheists are blamed for all that Stalin or Chairman Mao (sp) did.

What they did was not in the name of atheism, it was in the need for power.

Answer 2

You say that bad things were done in the name of atheism. Please explain that one. Give examples. I believe that you are equating atheism with communism and dictatorship. That is an extremely flawed way of thinking. There has never been an atheist church that handed down edicts that said that believers must be killed or tortured into converting. The christian church certainly has done this. Certain governments have killed many people and there have been people killed because they were believers, however, if you look at the history of Russia and China, you will see that those deaths are more the fault of mentally unbalanced dictators. Stalin was extremely paranoid and had many people killed on the belief that they might one day try to do something against him. However, I have never once heard that he killed people to promote an atheist agenda.

Answer 3

I heard that one formerly. An MRI basically exhibits the concepts wave activity of the concepts area it would not actually tutor how the concepts thinks or does issues. besides the reality that theory does come from the concepts and nueral impluses the technological expertise of it incredibly is constrained. The concepts come from the concepts and that's right, yet no possible be conscious those concepts being created and manifested interior the concepts. An MRI can not tutor that. it may often basically tutor the area energetic in a concepts at a similar time as doing an activity or questioning approximately some thing. i think of the colour exhibits crimson or Blue.

Answer 4

Well, the USSR had a state policy of atheism. And I guess most communists, real communists are atheists. I don't think atheists are communists just because they are atheists.

The Communist Party in the USA and other countries have stated that they are atheist, so some people identify them as such.

I don't.

Answer 5

We might ask by whom are these places being "held up as atheist countries?"

We might further ask whether the notion of "atheist countries" means that each of the citizens of the countries in question are, in fact, atheists.

We might also investigate whether atheism is a cause of communism or communism is a cause of atheism.

We might also ask whether all communist countries are "atheist countries."

Or, we might not ask questions at all, and just repeat the nonsense we hear on talk radio.

Answer 6

Because those countries instituted official suppression of religion. However, it is important to keep in mind that this was not done because the leaders had a problem with the religions themselves, but because religion threatens the power and authority of the ruler. And no dictator would stand for that.

Stalin was Russian Orthodox, BTW.

Answer 7

Because although communists are necessarily atheists (although this of course is in itself debatable), atheists aren't necessarily communists.
If you think of a Venn diagram, atheists form a larger set that contains the set known as "communists."

Answer 8

Um, atheism and communism are in no way related.

That's like lesbianism and Darwinism. Organism.

Vampirism and Capitalism.

As fun as this little '-ism' game I've found from answering this question is, the '-ism' suffix doesn't make things related. At all.

Answer 9

For the same reason the USA is held up as a Christian country : ignorance.

Answer 10

It's Christian propaganda. They arent Christian, they must have loose morals. You must hate them as such. Courtesy of our Christian President