Reply #79: Pop Fallacy ... [View All]

Pol Pot may or may not have been 'atheist' ... Being born and bred in the heart of Khmer, he certainly was raised with the knowledge of the Buddhist traditions associated with the earlier Khmer civilization ... Ankor Wat, one of the most famous ancient eastern cities, was known as the 'City of the Temple' ... One of the WORST criminals during the 'Kampuchea' years was a man known as 'Ta Mok', a former Buddhist Monk who led vicious pogroms against KR associates as well as civilians ...

I would note that Stalin and Mao cannot be defined as 'Atheist', even if their parties declaimed religion ... The chinese possessed theology which respected a plethora of deities and household gods ... There is no evidence that Mao specifically rejected the ancient beliefs ... Stalin was also raised in the lap of Russian Orthodoxy ... His credentials as an 'atheist' are also suspect ...

Furthermore: ALL of these 'atheists' directed their furies towards fellow party members ... obviously forced atheism was NOT the cause of these vicious actions ....

There is no evidence that Atheism has EVER been the cause of massacres against believers .... ever ... There no 'atheist theology' that demands adherence to an atheist creed ... How does one force another man to NOT believe in something ? ...

One more point: My problem is that FAITH purports a divine moral impulse .. a live connection with the primal moral force within the universe ... Atheism declares no such 'divine' source ... HUMANITY is our collective .... Atheism ACCEPTS its NON-DIVINE human nature .... It is FAITH that insists itself superior to 'humanity' by it's association with the font of moral purpose: its deity ...

I ACCEPT that 'man' is an animal ...

I do NOT accept that 'faith' in a deity forms a 'human divinity' that is superior to NON believers ....

I would expect that religious folks would NOT act as animals ... yet they do ... why ?....

WE say: because you are HUMAN ... Its your 'divinity' that is suspect ... not your humanity ....