We now continue considering the article Atheism Groups Grow on College Campuses, from which we are gleaning certain issue of interest. Find this whole series here.
To the question, “Does it bother you at all that the worst atrocities in history have been committed by atheists?” Dave responds:
It might, if it were true. I’m not convinced it is. What would bother me is if there were a causal link between the two. You can’t get from “There probably isn’t a god” to “I should kill five million Jews,” and you certainly agreed with me when we spoke that Hitler wasn’t an atheist at all…
So, if it is true that all that the worst atrocities in history have been committed by atheists, that “might” bother Dave, but it “might” not—depending on his preferences de jour, surely.
It is no less than astonishing that a college student is not convinced that the worst atrocities in history have been committed by atheists. Then again, it is not at all surprising that a college student is not convinced that the worst atrocities in history have been committed by atheists.
First, consider religious wars: The Encyclopedia of Wars (New York: Facts on File, 2005) was compiled by nine history professors who specifically conducted research for the text for a decade in order to chronicle 1,763 wars. The survey of wars covers a time span from 8000 BC to 2003 AD. From over 10,000 years of war 123 wars, which is 6.98 percent, are considered to have been religious wars (and half of those were involved Islam).
As for Adolf Hitler’s theology, this topic is as complicated as any attempts to discern any of his thinking as he tended towards chaotic syncretism. Let us simply note that Hitler’s biographer referred to him as “a man who believed neither in God nor in conscience” (Richard Cavendish, The Powers of Evil in Western Religion, Magic and Folk Belief [Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1975], p. 77-78). However, let us further note that this is not a full story statement.
For more details on this issue see:
From Zeitgeist to Poltergeist, Part 13 of 13
Adolf Hitler Was a Christian! Was Adolf Hitler a Christian?
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Secondly, consider that in the 20th century, in one single century, atheists managed to murder more people than all religious wars combined (it actually took a lot less than a whole century).
Vox Day notes (The Irrational Atheist: Dissecting the Unholy Trinity of Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens , pp. 181 & 240–242):
The total body count for the ninety years between 1917 and 2007 is approximately 148 million dead at the bloody hands of fifty-two atheists, three times more than all the human beings killed by war, civil war, and individual crime in the entire twentieth century combined….Is a 58 percent chance that an atheist leader will murder a noticeable percentage of the population over which he rules sufficient evidence that atheism does, in fact, provide a systematic influence to do bad things?
If that is not deemed to be conclusive, how about the fact that the average atheist crime against humanity is 18.3 million percent worse than the very worst depredation committed by Christians, even though atheists have had less than one-twentieth the number of opportunities with which to commit them. If one considers the statistically significant size of the historical atheist set and contrasts it with the fact that not one in a thousand religious leaders have committed similarly large-scale atrocities, it is impossible to conclude otherwise, even if we do not yet understand exactly why this should be the case. Once might be an accident, even twice could be coincidence, but fifty-two incidents in ninety years reeks of causation!
For details on this issue see From Zeitgeist to Poltergeist – Responding to Richard Dawkins on the Issue of Atheism, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Communism and Nazism
Indeed, if this does not scream “causal link,” what does? Yet, the issue is that no, atheism does not necessarily lead to the worst atrocities in history. Atheism can lead to atrocity, to charity, to indifference and it is all based on personal preference.
Note also that Dave is personally choosing to define atheism as “There probably isn’t a god.” Keep in mind that earlier in the article, Dave had written, “atheism is the lack of a position.” So which is it? The position that “There probably isn’t a god” or a “lack of position”? Apparently, it is whatever is convenient at the time.
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