Stalin and Mao were both atheists.   I note nobody has come up with any evidence that they were not.   And of course we can throw Lenin in also,    Why not? Join the fun.

The BTNG post of 11:46 PM 24 Oct has been contradicted by nobody--including him. The post should have said that Communist China, not Nationalist China, was responsible for most of the deaths (e.g. the Great Leap Forward and other various campaigns led by Mao).   But by and large the general tenor is accurate.    And of course it is well known that Stalin was indeed responsible for millions of deaths before World War II.

I think 100 million is definitely on the high side of deaths caused by Communism (called Marxism by its leaders) but the actual figure absolutely makes clear that any figure of deaths caused by religion is tiny by comparison.

As for Hitler, he only allowed a "German church" which in practice meant whatever the state said. He was the head of the state.    The 3rd Reich even tried to substiute Hitler for God in the minds of the youth.

Remember membership in the Hitlerjugend was made compulsory in 1936 for all boys and girls 10 to 18.

One of the songs they sang at Nuremberg rallies:

No evil priest can prevent us from feeling that we are the children of Hitler.
We follow not Christ but Horst Wessel
Away with incense and holy water
The Church can hand for all we care.
The swastika brings salvation on earth.

A "prayer" at Nuremberg went:

Fuehrer, my Fuehrer
Thou hast rescued Germany from deepest distress
I thank thee for my daily bread
Abide thou long with me, forsake me not
Fuehrer, my Fuehrer, my faith and light.

Source: Richard Gruenberger, A Social History of the Third Reich (1991)


I'm sorry I don't have the original German so I could check the translation, but I suspect it is accurate.

In 1936, a sustained campaign against Catholic monasteries and convents began. One of the choice methods to discredit Catholics was to bring charges of sexual offenses.    They then implied strongly that this was extremely widespread and perhaps unavoidable in Cathoiicism---exactly the tactic used by atheist Mudcatters. As I said earlier.

Sorry, calling someone a "troll" is not usually seen as a logical counterargument by people who can think--perhaps this excludes some atheist Mudcatters.

You will actually have to do some research. Good luck.