Commentary on Richard and GoodK's Debate

[_Dr. Shades]

So as long as an atheist isn't a communist, then he/she is fine, right?

[_Trevor]

So as long as an atheist isn't a communist, then he/she is fine, right?

I guess you missed the Ben Stein movie. It is all about godlessness, Shades. These guys are convinced that the root problem is godlessness, not fanaticism.

[_Dr. Shades]

I guess you missed the Ben Stein movie. It is all about godlessness, Shades. These guys are convinced that the root problem is godlessness, not fanaticism.

Hah!

Our religious friends keep bringing up Hitler (the Roman Catholic), Stalin, Mao Tse-Tung, and Pol Pot as atheistic mass murderers who even outdid the Christians for atrocities.

Let's see. Out of all the Atheists who have come and gone, that's only a mere four who have committed atrocities.

Per capita, I'd say that makes the atheists' track record pretty darn good.

[_richardMdBorn]

I guess you missed the Ben Stein movie. It is all about godlessness, Shades. These guys are convinced that the root problem is godlessness, not fanaticism.

Hah!

Our religious friends keep bringing up Hitler (the Roman Catholic), Stalin, Mao Tse-Tung, and Pol Pot as atheistic mass murderers who even outdid the Christians for atrocities.

Let's see. Out of all the Atheists who have come and gone, that's only a mere four who have committed atrocities.

Per capita, I'd say that makes the atheists' track record pretty darn good.

Mao, the number one murderer, and Stalin, the number two murderer, were both atheists. Hitler was anti-Christian as has been amply demonstrated. That hardly makes the atheist track record good.

[_Dr. Shades]

Mao, the number one murderer, and Stalin, the number two murderer, were both atheists. Hitler was anti-Christian as has been amply demonstrated. That hardly makes the atheist track record good.

That's only three people. Four if you count Pol Pot. Four. Out of all the millions of atheists who have come and gone, it's plainly obvious that those four represent not a pattern or an expectation but an aberration.

By those odds, atheists still have the upper-hand in the morality department, by far.

[_GoodK]

Not only are atheists really evil killers, but the NINE crusades, thirty years war, Crimean War, the witch hunts, inquisition, the constant extermination of the Jews, and the massive graves the Spanish missionaries filled with millions of "savages" say nothing about Christianity. Nothing.

[_Scottie]

Mao, the number one murderer, and Stalin, the number two murderer, were both atheists. Hitler was anti-Christian as has been amply demonstrated. That hardly makes the atheist track record good.

That's only three people. Four if you count Pol Pot. Four. Out of all the millions of atheists who have come and gone, it's plainly obvious that those four represent not a pattern or an expectation but an aberration.

By those odds, atheists still have the upper-hand in the morality department, by far.

Great point Shades.

It's not really fair to judge how many lives are lost based on pure numbers. Mao had a lot more people available to kill, therefore his numbers would obviously be higher!

Although, I'm not sure it's really fair to blame religion for the madmen who have killed in the name of religion. Men need a cause to believe in. Most men won't kill unless they believe what they are doing is good and right. Religion and God is a very easy cause, but I'm sure these madmen would have found a different cause to kill if religion wasn't there. Americans killed for freedom in our wars, not God, but they believed the cause to be just. Many others have used patriotism to kill.

[_richardMdBorn]

Mao, the number one murderer, and Stalin, the number two murderer, were both atheists. Hitler was anti-Christian as has been amply demonstrated. That hardly makes the atheist track record good.

That's only three people. Four if you count Pol Pot. Four. Out of all the millions of atheists who have come and gone, it's plainly obvious that those four represent not a pattern or an expectation but an aberration.

By those odds, atheists still have the upper-hand in the morality department, by far.

How is this the case. What theist killed this number of people? Most people would agree that atheists throughout history have been far outnumbered by theists. Do you agree? I don't think that many people would dispute this even for for the 20th century where there were many more atheists than previously. To have the top two mass murderers be atheists is not good evidence that "atheists still have the upper-hand in the morality department, by far."

[_richardMdBorn]

Not only are atheists really evil killers, but the NINE crusades, thirty years war, Crimean War, the witch hunts, inquisition, the constant extermination of the Jews, and the massive graves the Spanish missionaries filled with millions of "savages" say nothing about Christianity. Nothing.

Hi Eric,

I'm curious how the heck the Crimean War got into this list.

[_Dr. Shades]

How is this the case. What theist killed this number of people?

See GoodK's excellent list. There were far more than a mere four theists doing all the killing.

To have the top two mass murderers be atheists is not good evidence that "atheists still have the upper-hand in the morality department, by far."

Guess what? The top two mass murderers also breathed oxygen. Therefore, by your (and most other theists') logic, breathing oxygen leads to mass murder.