Religious Violence

The goal of the previous post was to clearly show that not all atheists are communists and not all communists are atheists, even if they are Marxists. This is now clear, at least in my own mind.

Many people who want to speak of the “evils” of atheism often point to former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and the deaths of millions caused by his actions. Often this is because religious people believe only atheists could cause death on such an enormous scale, and Stalin was undoubtedly an atheist. But were the deaths caused by Stalin truly the result of hostility toward religion? I think we have to distinguish between atrocities committed by atheists and those committed due to atheism. Let’s define a few terms first.

Theism and State Theism are not the same. Theism is a position taken on matters of religion and society by a person or by a like-minded group of people according to which the existence of at least one supreme and supernatural being is accepted as fact, notwithstanding lack of objective evidence for the existence of any such being. State Theism is the policy of an authoritarian government which encourages the populace to adhere to a particular brand of religion, usually called the State religion, and discouraging belief in any other brand of religion as well as discouraging non-belief in any religious system whatsoever. This can manifest itself in the persecution of those who will not adhere to the state religion, especially if they prove to be a thorn in the government’s side.

Likewise, Atheism and State Atheism are not the same. Atheism is a position taken on matters of religion and society by a person or by a like-minded group of people according to which the existence of a supreme and supernatural being has not been proven and is therefore of no consequence in one’s daily life. State Atheism is the policy of an authoritarian government which encourages non-religion in the populace and discourages religious belief, often to the point of persecuting religious believers, especially if they prove to be a thorn in the government’s side.

Therefore, if we are to attribute killings to religion, the killings must have been either:

• motivated by hatred toward a religion or a particular religious group (Anglican vs. Catholic; Hindu vs. Muslim, etc.);
• motivated by religious belief (Thou shalt slay the infidel); or
• committed by or ordered by the State as a measure of persecution against people of a religious belief other than the one approved by the State (The Iranian government against the Baha’i).

Likewise, if we are to attribute killings to atheism, the killings have been either:

• committed by an atheist who is motivated by hatred toward religion in general (I’m gonna get even with those “/$%?& religionists);
• motivated by atheistic beliefs (whatever that may be); or
• committed by or ordered by the State as a measure of persecution against people of religious belief in general or of a particular religious belief.

Traditionally, religious people and authorities have committed their atrocities against those who are non-religious and those whose religion is different from theirs. Therefore, the atheistic equivalent would be against those who are religious and those whose atheism is at odds with the one practiced by the ones committing the atrocities.

We must make the distinction between purges against religious people and groups due to their religious beliefs and activities, and the deaths caused, for example, by a failed ideological attempt to reorganise a nation’s agricultural system, leading to widespread famine. There is no doubt Stalin persecuted people for their religious views, but I doubt this would account for the epitome of his atrocities, the famine in the Ukraine. Stalin wanted to force the collectivisation of farms there. The religious beliefs of his victims were probably not the first thing that came to his mind. In fact, there is reason to believe that the Russian Orthodox Church was revived during his time to stoke the flame of nationalism and show the world that the USSR was indeed a bastion of freedom of religion. On the first count at least, Stalin showed himself to not be a Marxist since the movement is one which discourages nationalism.

Therefore, pointing to Stalin’s numbers as proof that atheism has killed more people than religion is problematic at best. The millions killed through religious feuding are much easier to account for.