A couple of days ago, I was reading the comments to a post on The Frame Problem which, like one of mine, included this comic:
The replies, over there, were a little more like those I had expected here.
First, there came the usual “Stalin / Hitler did this, so atheism is even worse” argument, a.k.a. “I completely missed the point of the comic”. The point is that the comic’s panels suggest several hypothetic (and completely non-existent) atrocities actually made in the name of atheism — and whose equivalents were, in real life, made in the name of religion. That’s completely different from atrocities made by believers or atheists but not in the name of (or because of) their religion or atheism.
When someone pointed out that there’s no relation between Stalin’s atheism and his atrocities (Hitler was a Catholic), then this little gem came up:
They decided that there was no god and realized that they were therefore permitted to do anything they wanted
And this is where I believe all discussion with that person should end. Because he or she, at that point, has gone between a mere logical confusion (going from “atheists did this” to “atheism causes this”) to actual immorality. That person doesn’t see any reason for not “doing anything they want” other than fear of being spanked by the sky daddy. No reason to help and care for other human beings, except that God supposedly commanded so. No reason for not going into a killing spree, except that they don’t want to go to hell.
This, ladies and gents, is absolutely sickening — not to mention worrying (what if they ever lose their faith? no one in the vicinity would be safe…). And they don’t even get that.
I’d like to suggest to fellow nonbelievers that, when told that “atheism leads to evil (because without god anything goes”), or confronted yet again with the Stalin argument (which really amounts to the same: “they killed people because they didn’t fear divine punishment”), they reply with something like the following:
You have just stated that you, yourself, see no reason not to commit mass murder, other than fear of going to hell. Therefore, you have shown yourself to be a psychopathic monster, and I am not interested in continuing a discussion with the likes of you.
I know I’ll be using it in the future, because, sure as hell, believers will continue to compare my morality (or, in their eyes, lack thereof) to Stalin’s.
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Yah- that is the problem with command morality- it is insane. I love the comic though- especially the “spread rational inquiry by the sword”.
I just want to let you know that your blog has become one of my favorite blogs. Not just because, I agree with you, but because I realize how bad most of the stuff really is that we as atheists have to put up with.
Thanks!
Meditations on Anti-Theism…
The term anti-theism has been cropping up around the atheist blogosphere a lot lately. It seems like a fairly simply construct at first glance……
You might be suprised, but Stalin actuially was not an atheist. He studied in Orthodox Theological Seminary if you don’t know
Stalin WAS an atheist! He studied to be a priest but was expelled for radical communist views. Though he later may have prayed in the Kremlin in the earlly stages of Operation Barbarossa, he was an atheist and one of hi main policies was the destruction of religion (persecuting priests/imams etc. and destroying religious buildings), as he didn’t want any rival moral allegiances to him, and he may have been bitter about his expulsion.