RE: virus: "... faith is one of the world's great evils"

anonymous (anon@ou.edu)
Tue, 11 Mar 1997 14:36:04 -0600


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On Tuesday, March 11, 1997 6:31 AM, Wade T. Smith wrote:=20

While there were several fallacies in your apologia for faith, I will=20
address only one-
>4. Robespierre, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot all killed in the name =
of=20
>secularism.

They were, of course, religious as well as political leaders, who =
intentionally combined the two fervors- faith and patriotism- to control =
their respective mobs. Hitler's Mein Kampf addresses this strategy =
repeatedly.

anonymous responds thus:

I briefly searched Mein Kamph and found that while Hitler appears to =
have addressed this strategy repeatedly as you say, I am unclear whether =
he endorses it or merely criticizes the Hapsburgs and the Pan-German =
movement for misapplying it. Please elaborate.

Hitler may be unique among those listed above for sacrificing his =
interests for his beliefs. It could reasonably be argued that he =
repeatedly sacrificed the good of the war effort for irrational beliefs =
and ends. The others, though, seem to have killed in pursuit and =
maintenance of power. While semi-religious cults arose around Stalin and =
Mao, both began with the intent to stamp out religion, and the masses =
found that worship of their atheist tyrants became the only acceptable =
expression of religious belief. This speaks more to the possible genetic =
predisposition to some kind of religious belief than to Stalin's or =
Mao's respect for it.

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