Why does it matter if Hitler was atheist/Christian...??

[MaxWeiss]

Who cares!!?? The majority of atheists AND Christians agree that genocide was wrong. The focus should be on WHY he did what he did. Most atheists' stance is that many atrocities have been committed IN THE NAME OF a religion and FOR RELIGIOUS REASONS, rather than normal good reasons. While many atheists have done bad things, the bad things weren't in the name of not believing in god. The whole atheist argument is that once you strip away stupid reasons (which are often religious) you can actually call good things GOOD and bad things BAD without having to justify it on a basis other than how you can help or hurt people. I think Hitler was a monster, and I'm sure most Christians and most EVERYBODY does.

There are many historical examples of bad things being done IN THE NAME of religion, and also good things done IN ITS NAME, but often it is NOT because they are bad/good but rather because it is god's will or some such nonsense.

As long as faith provides a brick wall to conversation about cause and effect, and as long as people continue to try and justify claiming to know something they cannot possibly know, I will vehemently oppose it. Any form of thinking which blocks reason in this manner and forces one to make a "leap of faith," and to defend it as good in any sense, is corrosive. Period!!

[yukoncpa]

It doesn't matter if he was Christian, unless he committed his atrocities because of Christian teachings. I doubt this hugely, unless he woke up one morning with a whole lot of power and he was like Bluffthis! on crack.

[InTheDark]

There are a few sharp folks who suggest that right and wrong are difficult directions to divine without religion. It's often difficult to grasp the idea that, for me (and maybe you), 95% of the population is not as intelligent. And many are hugely less intelligent. There's also an entire new movement to teach moral relativism to the young, totally muddying right and wrong. Atheism compounds these fuzzy edges.

I'd prefer to live in a country where 98% of the people could state that Pol Pot was evil. Wasn't that long ago that we could.

[vhawk01]

[ QUOTE ]
There are a few sharp folks who suggest that right and wrong are difficult directions to divine without religion. It's often difficult to grasp the idea that, for me (and maybe you), 95% of the population is not as intelligent. And many are hugely less intelligent. There's also an entire new movement to teach moral relativism to the young, totally muddying right and wrong. Atheism compounds these fuzzy edges.

I'd prefer to live in a country where 98% of the people could state that Pol Pot was evil. Wasn't that long ago that we could.

[/ QUOTE ]


Yes, we get it, you are a condescending atheist (or agnostic or whatever) and you think we all need religion because the unwashed masses are too stupid to act good without it.

Which is hilarious because your great examples are Stalin and Pol Pot, when both fo those men were intelligent. What you should be looking for is an atheist country ruled by some intelligent, moral atheist who simply cannot control his people because they are too stupid to act morally without the fear of God. Stalin and Pol Pot are perfect examples AGAINST the type of egotistical elitism you are talking about.

[ChrisV]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd prefer to live in a country where 98% of the people could state that Pol Pot was evil. Wasn't that long ago that we could.

[/ QUOTE ]

The state of education in the US being what it is, my guess is that you live in a country where the majority of people don't know who Pol Pot was.

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

It matters because we need to be aware of how people can use religion, nationalism or any other cult to manipulate the masses. You say that most Christians think Hitler is evil... well that certainly wasn't the case at the time, was it?

The simple truth is that people who are willing to denounce logical reasoning in favor of faith are more likely to accept genocide than people who are skeptical of religion.

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd prefer to live in a country where 98% of the people could state that Pol Pot was evil. Wasn't that long ago that we could.

[/ QUOTE ]
They won't even let you have Christmas anymore either. Now its December Holiday and Happy Holidays. Its no wonder 911 happened. This country is going down the drain. Somebody reinstate the draft.

[Splendour]

The simple truth is that people who are willing to denounce logical reasoning in favor of faith are more likely to accept genocide than people who are skeptical of religion.

If this is the truth then how do you explain Lenin's, Stalin's, Pol Pot's and Mao Tse Tung's policies?

It seems that atheism comes in as many variants as does religion (from a thinking Catholic's perspective):

http://www.carl-olson.com/articles/atheism_envoy.html

[jogsxyz]

http://www.infidels.org/library/mode...nofhitler.html

This book claims Hitler was a Christian.

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How could there be a master race without god?

[Splendour]

Well I have trouble seeing Hitler as a true follower of any religion since he was mainly a proponent of his own ideologies and wrote a lot of things to match his own personal vision.

http://english.pravda.ru/world/europ...83892-hitler-0