That's a wide swing. I notice they are all political leaders, of extremes, and that actually Mussolini was a Catholic, and Stalin was raised a Catholic. Pol Pot attended a Catholic School too, .... yes Sam you have succeeded in proving that religion played a hand in most of the atrocities committed by these people! Of course Mao was an atheist, but is still revered as a great leader in China. The deaths he caused were due to mismanagement causing starvation, largely, just like Catholic pride made the Irish Potato famine a tragedy. So that one seems to be applicable to both atheist and religious leaders, not proving your point either way. You FAILED Sam. What angle you going to ply next?
Especially once they turn atheist, eh? Then they break world records. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
First, I'd question your mindreading. Second, I'd question your list: Stalin and maybe Mao and maybe Pol Pot - depending on how you are counting - still only makes three. Third, I point out that ascribing all the crimes of a State to its nominal head, rather than the large body of (in Stalin's case, for example) theistic people who did the actual murdering, is a bit simpleminded. We recall the complaint of a theistic mass murdering Czar of Russia who preceded Stalin: "I never ruled Russia. Ten thousand clerks ruled Russia". And we recall the reverence - the worship, actually - accorded to such people as Stalin and Mao. Fourth, we note a confounding circumstance: the existence of atheistic intellectual influence in a culture is positively correlated with technological capability. And this capability is more strongly correlated with deeds requiring such capability than any personal religious beliefs of nominal Leaders. And fifth, we note that the some of the parallels in our few atheistic mass murderers' upbringings are not just theistic, but specifically involve one sect of one theism - the Jesuit sect of Catholic Christianity.
Turn atheist? I think you need to read up on Mussolini. Anyway, your point is fractured, and doesn't hold water. Stop banging on about it, it makes you look desperate that you can't come up with something better.
I did. Like Stalin, he proclaimed himself as an atheist and was very anti-clerical. I think my point is made. Atheism leads to the formation of dangerous genocidal maniacs. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
"Converted to Roman Catholicism in 1927, irreligious in earlier life." Sorry, he was a Catholic. How do you figure that, when three of your four favourite examples had Catholic upbringings, and the only lifetime atheist you can drum up caused death by bad management. Pathetic Sam, you need a new tune. Your assertion has been torn to shreds.
So he was an atheist to begin with. Bang goes your thesis on Stalin. Pick a side. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
You're being very misleading. Stalin's mother, who was, admittedly, a very religious woman, had hoped that Stalin would eventually become a priest. Stalin attended the elementary school in Gori, and won a scholarship which entitled him to attend the Tiflis Theological Seminary. The problem is, Stalin was never interested in his religious schooling, and he was constantly getting into trouble with the seminary authorities. Midway through his studies, Stalin was expelled, and quickly joined a group of young revolutionaries. Yes, Stalin's mother did force him to attend a theological seminary, but his actions prove that he was never the slightest bit interested. The same goes for the other atheists in question: sure, perhaps as children, their parents did force them to attend these religious schools, but they were never true believers, or even mildly interested. They disbanded when the opportunity arose, and spent the rest of their lives severely persecuting religious groups. To even imply that they weren't proper atheists due to a religious upbringing is silly. Kadark
Stalin was also an Abeetpicklist and slaughtered anyone and everyone who came in contact with pickled beets. :deal:
You know what they say, those who don't believe in God, believe in anything. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I said: "Stalin was also an Abeetpicklist and slaughtered anyone and everyone who came in contact with pickled beets." Then, you said: "You know what they say, those who don't believe in God, believe in anything." Funny how, when I make examples of the silly things you say AND what you openly say yourself, both make you look the fool.
Back on topic we can put this ugly dog to bed. wikilinky Now you know why only a single muslim voted that apostates should not be killed. I bet more will follow this post for appearances sake Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Mussollini was Roman Catholic, converted not from atheism but from "irreligious" bent - and not much of a mass murderer, probably not in the top ten historically. The mass murders committed by the Italian fascists, such as they were, were committed mostly by Catholics. To the extent atheism was involved, it was as victim, not perpetrator. As far as mass murder committed by atheists under proclaimed atheistic leadership, I wonder about including Mao - he seemed to have piled up the deaths not by murder but by negligence, and including him would require other high rates of death from governmental misdeed to be included; such as India's famines, which would definitely put some Indian/British ruler in the top ten. You do regard the theistic beliefs of the people doing the actual mass murdering as of some interest, no ? It saves on the mindreading of the unusual and complex psychologies of Leaders. We are left with the assertion that most of the top ten Leaders of mass murder were atheist. So far, we have two likely (Stalin and Pol Pot) and one doubtful but possible (Mao). Confounding even this we have the capability factor, and the theistic beliefs of the actual murderers involved. So the general assertion is pretty much shot. And the whole exercise seems pointless, unless the purpose is to warn against giving power over theists to the products of Jesuit or Catholic monk schooling. The pattern there is kind of disturbing. How does being born athest make a theist an apostate ? Or are you confusing religion and theism for the umpteenth time ?
