(143)   Sun 2 Nov 97 12:51
By: DON MARTIN
To: BOB SEWELL
Re: Deadly religious cult
St:
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Bob Sewell said "Deadly religious cult" to Fredric Rice, adding:

 BS> In a deposition submitted under oath, Fredric Rice said:

 FR> Christianity has been the single most deadly ideology ever created by
 FR> men and you want to pretend that those who point out the evil of your
 FR> death cult have some "lack of hope."

 BS> Actually, atheism is "the single most deadly ideology ever created
 BS> by men," if you want to compare numbers.  According to _Death by
 BS> Government_ by R.J. Rummel (1994, Transaction Pub), in this century
 BS> alone atheists have murdered more than just a few million people.
 BS> Here is a short list that will give you a sample of the numbers,
 BS> listed by atheist leader:

 BS> Joseph Stalin:  42,672,000 murdered
 BS> Mao Tse-tung:   37,828,000 murdered
 BS> Vladimir Lenin:  4,017,000 murdered
 BS> Pol Pot:         2,397,000 murdered
 BS> ----------
 BS> Total           86,914,000 men, women and children murdered by
 BS> atheists
 BS> So, are you, as an atheist, going to take responsibility, just as
 BS> you require of the fundies?

    As soon as you show that those murders were a _product_ of the
atheism, as were the murders of the Inquisition, based upon an
examination into the beliefs of the accused and declaring those
beliefs heretical. Mass killings by dictators frequently lack such
moral content, however, as the dictators tend to focus on more
mundane matters. Russian peasants opposed to collectivization in the
20s and 30s were far more likely to be bumped off for that
"impediment to socialistic progress" than for any warm feelings they
may have entertained about dieties.

    You wish us to think that they got into trouble for those diety
beliefs, I expect, without your providing much more than a bare
body count. Have you anything a bit more to your point?

... Through a Jaundiced Eye Darkly--Rheum With a View
             (don@balt-rehab.med.va.gov)

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