I like to refer to myself as a vocal atheist. That means I have written several blogs defending atheism. Lord knows [intentional irony] with all the religious fundamentalists out there, atheism could use a few defenders. Sooner or later, though anyone with an interest in atheism will be exposed to the canard of Communism. Communism espouses atheism so any horror done in the name of Communism is laid on the doorstep of atheism. Is it justified? Lord knows [intentional irony again] I have described religious abuses such as the Inquisition, the European Witch Trials, Protestant-Catholic holy wars, Jonestown, and 9/11 on the doorstep of religion. Can Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, etc. be legitimately laid at atheism doorstep? In this blog I will argue that it can’t. Before I begin with the thrust of my argument, however, let me explicitly acknowledge the obvious. Stalin, Mao, etc. certainly shows that one can be an atheist and do very bad things. Atheism does not protect one from one’s own poor character. But then again no one ever said it did. The only thing that can do that is a change in one’s character. This blog was inspired by an antagonistic response [1] I got to a blog I did [2] concerning the charge of “evangelical atheism”. I wrote the following paragraph:

When was the last time an atheist tried to LEGISLATE that biology classes must teach the specific doctrine that there is NO GOD? When was the last time an atheist tried to LEGISLATE the phrase, “one nation, under NO GOD” be inserted into our national anthem, or the phrase “In NO GOD we trust” on the back of our money? When was the last time an atheist head of a state Supreme Court tried to get a sculpture honoring the Humanist Manifesto be displayed on its grounds?

To which my antagonist replied:

You don't know about Marxism? I find that selective awareness might be a sign of "debilitating effects religion can have on some people’s critical thinking skills." Perhaps this Atheism thing does rot the brain. http://www.asianews.it/index.php?art=2029&l=en http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WDP/is_2004_Nov_24/ai_n7582025 Force? Threat? Yes, very real ones.

While I am by no means an authority on Marxism, I do know something of it that my antagonist seems to be unaware. No Marxist has ever advocated legislating NO GOD into our schools, our pledge of allegiance, nor our money. Nor has any Marxist judge advocated having a statue erected honoring the Humanist Manifesto … or even Karl Marx’s DAS KAPITAL for that matter. The argument I made did not address what was happening in other countries addressed what was happeining in my own. In reality, of course, my antagonist knows this. He just cannot come up with a response to the argument I did make, so instead he is pretending it is another argument that he can respond to. Unfortunately, he is not particularly good at making it. His links above go to stories about the revelation of the Chinese Communist Party's “secret directives on how to eradicate religion and ensure the victory of atheism”. Interestingly neither source has the supposed directive. A quick google search showed that it could be found within this PDF [3] located on pages 9 through 12. Since this seems to be an original source I will use it instead of my antagonist’s links which are of dubious credibility. The document is entitled: Notice on Further Strengthening Marxist Atheism Research, Propaganda, and Education. It advocates an intensive program of education and propaganda (very little research) to inculcate Marxist atheism into various aspects of the Chinese culture to offset the influence of organizations like Falun Gong which bring in “Western-style” pseudo-science and superstition. Areas of Chinese culture specifically targeted include; local leaders, schools, national media, internet, etc. What do I think of it? Actually there are SOME things in it that are very good:

Aiming at the phenomenon of fatuity and superstition, which exists among some people, we shall strengthen the research, propaganda, and education of natural science, particularly the basic knowledge about life, helping people understand the universe, the origin of life, the rule on human evolution, and correctly deal with various natural phenomena, natural disasters, birth, aging, disease, and death. We shall also strengthen the research; propaganda and education of a healthy and civilized life style, helping people acquire the habit of good behavior, and scientifically and reasonably conduct physical exercises, health care, living, sightseeing, recreation, and entertainment

I’m not thrilled about the word “propaganda” being in there, but this is an English translation of a Chinese document and perhaps what is being translated as “propaganda” is not exactly the same thing I think of as propaganda. Otherwise, who can argue with promoting better education and personal habits? But for the most part it is a bad document:

National Fund on Social Science and all research programs on philosophical social science shall involve atheism research in such directive documents as subject instructions issued by corresponding departments, and provide required funding through public bidding and special trust.

If I read that correctly, then funds will be earmarked only to those projects that will find out exactly what is wanted to be found. Everything else is shelved. One thing that should be pointed out is that nowhere in the paper is it explicitly advocated that physical force be used to forbid people from believing what they want. What is advocated is a program to convince them that Marxist atheism is a good thing. The problem I have with it is that it advocates using unfair techniques. In fact, they are the same unfair techniques that are used here to promote religion Here, there are numerous television programs supporting Christian ideals, virtually none criticizing them. Recently there was a program showing atheism in a positive light that came from Great Briton, A BRIEF HISTORY OF DISBELIEF. It was broadcast on PBS. The problem was that many PBS stations refused to carry it. While there was no discernible opposition to the movie, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, an ostensibly Christian-theme based film (which I enjoyed by the way), there is a big uproar and threats of boycott against THE GOLDEN COMPASS (a film which I have yet to see). This amounts to the same type of propaganda that the Chinese directive was advocating … just for different positions. Also, the Chinese directive is government supported. THERE is the rub. That is what makes it worse in my mind than what is happening here. It has gotten itself successfully inculcated into government. So now let’s get down to the REAL problem of Communism. It is an UNTHINKING DOGMA. Note how the research that is being advocated (and funded) is only research on atheism. Any potentially positive effects from religion will not be found. The dogma is directing the research, not the research the dogma. That is the exact problem I have with religion. Its emphasis on acceptance by faith promotes just this same type of UNTHINKING DOGMA. You are not supposed to put God to the test, it is an insult. Not to mention that if we do, God fails and fails miserably [4]. Thus, the problem with Communism and its abuses do not come from atheism, it comes from Communism being too much like religion! It is an unthinking dogma that has control of a nation’s laws. That is a bad thing, a horrible thing, a disastrous thing. That is exactly what I have been arguing against in my arguments against religion. To look at it from a different prospective, the abuses of Communism have been done in the name of Communism, not atheism. While the abuses of religion have been done in the name of religion. Coming to the problem from a third perspective, I have repeated said that I would be happy if religion would die. But I have just as often said how I want it to die … I want it to die on the cross [intentional irony again] of reason. I don’t want people to disbelieve in God because they are pissed off at the way the world treats them; I want people to disbelieve in God because given the way the world is, God’s existence doesn’t make any sense. Many religious people try to present a false dichotomy – you have to make a choice between American Christianity or Atheistic Communism. Bullshit! All atheism asks is that one makes a choice between God’s existence or non-existence. If the choice is made on the evidence and not emotions I am confident that most people will chose non-existence. I say that because I am a scientist; scientists study the natural world (and that is the only place that you can find the evidence): and scientists are the only major group in our society where disbelievers outnumber believers. In other words, the people best suited to find evidence of supernatural deity are the ones least likely to believe in its existence. The choice of what type of society to live in ... ie embrace American Capitalism; embrace Marxist Communism; or embrace something totally different is a separate issue. I happen to prefer Capitalism … and to the best of my knowledge so do all my atheistic friends. Cheers, Darwin’s Beagle