8 Comments

Ray Ingles
September 17th, 2010 | 10:47 pm

A big chunk of the “famine” and “starvation”, BTW, was because the Communists rejected neo-Darwinian evolution, and enforced Lysenkoism. Reality didn’t match up with “worker’s science” and the “Three Bitter Years” were the result.

Bret Lythgoe
September 18th, 2010 | 4:26 am

We often hear, from the “New Atheists”, Richard Dawkins, Christiopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and the rest, that religion, aside from being childish superstition, also has resulted in death and destruction. But I think that it’s fair to say, that the atheistic communist experiment has caused more death, than one can imagine.

Is this because atheism inexorably leads to immoral behavior? No. I think that atheism is incorrect, but there are a lot of atheists who put so called “christians” to shame, in the ethics department.

But one has to wonder, if a tyranny, that dnies religious freedom, does have a more than coincidental link to the lack of respect for life. I’m not saying that there’s a causal link here, but it’s worth investigating.

Ars Artium
September 18th, 2010 | 7:31 am

When the principle that human lives can be commandeered for ends other than their own best good is accepted, a dark and bitter process begins.

Steve
September 18th, 2010 | 8:39 am

And that’s only the estimate for a four-year period. Correct me if I’m wrong, but reference works like “The Black Book of Communism” have Mao’s total murderous legacy as somewhere north of 60 million people, making him by far the worst mass murderer in human history.

KarenT
September 18th, 2010 | 11:25 am

Dennis Prager credits the fawning of intellectuals over communists during his college years with convincing him that his Hebrew School teacher was right: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”

It’s amazing to me that Radical Chic still thrives in spirit among our intellectual betters.

Mary
September 18th, 2010 | 3:25 pm

Ok! I already knew that he and Stalin both creamed Hitler, but I thought Stalin had claimed #1.

Live and learn.

Barry Arrington
September 19th, 2010 | 12:10 am

Yes, the Chinese leaders have done an astounding job of hiding Mao’s crimes from the people of China. In 2005 I went on a short term mission trip in China. Our group was split into smaller groups, and a lovely 22 year-old, college-educated woman was assigned as our guide. While walking through Tiananmen Square I pointed to the huge picture of Mao and out of sheer curiosity I asked her what she thought of that man. This dedicated Christian woman said, “Oh, he was a great man!” I asked, “What about the mass murders?” She looked at me, genuinely puzzled, and asked me what I was talking about. To this day I am persuaded that she really had no idea.

Ray Ingles
September 19th, 2010 | 10:45 am

Bret –


But I think that it’s fair to say, that the atheistic communist experiment has caused more death, than one can imagine.

A lot of that is simply that better technology allows more people to exist, along with more efficient ways to kill large numbers of people.

A sincere ‘thank you!’ for acknowledging that atheism doesn’t necessarily lead to immorality, and that it was ‘atheistic communism’ rather than atheism per se that led to the horrible slaughter.

The lesson I take from that is that no worldview is immune to excessive dogmatism. A refusal to allow freedom of conscience – in short, an inability to allow others to be ‘wrong’ – has terrible consequences.