An essay question for atheists?

Question

"The horrors of the twentieth century are largely the result of the influence--however distorted--of the great atheist thinkers of the nineteenth century: Darwin, Nietzsche and Marx."

Note the word "distorted" (as in Darwin's influence on Nazism and Marx's on Stalin etc.)

And to get something else out of the way: of course it goes without saying that Christianity (or its distortion) played a part as well, particularly in the horrors of Nazism--e.g.Christian anti-semitism of both the Catholic and Lutheran variety, the racist distortion of Jesus' teachings by some of the Nazis, etc.

And of course the ideas of Nietzsche were (somewhat) distorted in their Nazi interpretation as well.

The question is, "Were the horrors of the twentieth century largely the result..." (etc.) but I couldn't fit such a long question in the question bar.

Answer 1

Anyone who would put Darwin, Neitzsche and Marx in the same sentence is responding ONLY to their atheism. They were that different. But I would not say it was only the distortion of their views that caused horror, but also the reaction -- no, over-reaction, at least in Darwin's case -- of the theists to their views.

Taken one at a time, the tension between Darwin's theory of evolution and fundamentalist Christian views regarding interpretations of the creation stories in the Bible has become a major theme in the 21st century. You will note, perhaps, that this discussion was centered on the origin of the HUMAN species from the start. Most scientists welcomed the rest of the theory as being the most plausible explanation for the taxonomic tree of life. The argument has always been that humans are different in that we have souls. OK; no problem. Take evolution as explaining the development of our bodies, and leave the nature and development of souls to theologians. That is their proper sphere. It is only in attempting to justify a "literal" interpretation of the creation myth that religion runs afoul of science. Most Christians recognize that a literal interpretation is not only absurd, it is impossible. There really are too many inconsistencies, and too much solid evidence to the contrary.

Nietzsche is very different. His basic point was that we don't know anything, and he don't care. His view was negativity raised to a philosophy, and most people rightly ignore him. When he said "God is dead," he was being ironic, because god never lived. That the Nazis made much of his superman concept is not his fault; he was speculating on the future. Still, I think we can dismiss Nietzsche as having gone too far, even as modern atheists.

Marx is yet again different. His point was political, and had things to say about religion only to the extent it was a different system of control of the minds of men and women. He wanted no leaders above him, not under his control. Stalin just took Marx to his logical extreme. Where Marx contended that this would all happen naturally -- the workers become organized and throw off the bosses of capitalism -- Stalin considered himself an agent of change to hurry things along. That communism is not only wrong-hearted but wrong-headed makes both of them bad examples of atheists.

Modern atheists simply acknowledge that we have no need of the god hypothesis in order to lead moral, compassionate, honorable lives and create a sense of unity and purpose in a community. What we need, however, is some of that good old fashioned communication, sense of living beyond the material girl's desire for more and more and more. In a materialist world, men buy women with money or the things money can buy. Women buy men (and the things men can provide) with sex. We are capable of better than that.

Perhaps this is too long, but you did characterize it as an essay question!

Answer 2

If we say that the horrors of the twentieth century was largely the result of great atheist thinkers, Darwin, Nietzche, and Marx, and that Christianity played a part as well, then I would be thinking as to what are you exactly trying to say?

The biggest fiasco of modern time and the greatest tragedy is the Reagan-Bush-Bush war and illegal sanctions against Iraq.

What is the solution? An indictment of the particulars, Darwin, Nietzche, and Marx. With clear reasoning, this nation should be able to see clearly!

There is no other way out!

peacenegotiator

.

Answer 3

That "Were" at the beginning makes a difference.
I would say categorically-NO!
The horrors of Nazism at least had many roots, including the unfair Treaty of Versailles and the Hyperinflation that followed, a European history of Anti Semitism, and anti communist sentiment.
As much as I don't care for Nietzsche you can't lay Nazism on him and ignore all that.
It's the same with Darwin. Having a scientific method for human origins is preferable to idiots insisting that the rest of us take a self contradicting book from Judea 2000+ years ago as literal truth. If you are going to lay blame for atrocities at the feet of atheists are you going to be fair and credit the advances in medical research that have come from a better understanding of nature that we gained from Darwin?
And Marx wrote about Capitalism! He was critiquing the barbaric conditions (and they were barbaric) of the Industrial Revolution. It's dishonest to count only Stalin's dead and ignore those who the Industrial Revolution victimized.
So, you may have thought up a good sound bite, but it does not pan out when examining actual historical fact!

Answer 4

So what you want us to write an essay for you? Or was that just a rant?

Ok, possibly...I can see where you are going at least, but the thing is people will always distort things (whether religion, scientific theory, whatever) to make them fit their own purposes, the idea itself may never have been bad, but the application, the way people use and distort an idea will be good or bad depending on the persons intentions.

Answer 5

Darwin wasn't an atheist and Id ont know what horrors you think the idea of evolution is responsible for

Also with regards to Marx the communism that happened wasn't the communism he wanted. Dictators weren't in the plan for a start.

Answer 6

I think there's some truth in that, but I think you have to keep in mind that, prior to the Twentieth Century, the technology and organizations to commit such atrocities really didn't exist. I'm sure if Saladin or Torquemada had had access to Zyklon-B, they'd have used it too. One really can't blame atheism, tempting though it might be.

Edit: Umm... when did the Soviet Union become part of Europe?

Answer 7

Why so eurocentric

You forgot imperial japan and the communists in North Korea, Cambodia, ect.
The ottoman genocides... and I'm sure more.

so i would say that The horrors of the twentieth century are largely the result of people. People of all different races, religions, and creeds

Answer 8

Any thoughts on religion or other beliefs and organizations is bound to cause conflict. A true Atheist like myself would never think about or entertain any remarks or enter into any arguments about the above. Just live your life in peace and make the opportunities presented work for you. So long as I'm alive I will enjoy myself, when I'm dead I'll fertilize the earth organically.

Answer 9

So what distortion? Perhaps you can list out the distortion. BTW, the leader of the Nazi is a christian, why should he be distorting the book?

Answer 10

Answer is intolerance and the perversion of a belief

***Are you really Salman Rushdie??