Believers in communism were killing non-believers in communism, Mrrzy. As simple as that. Communism WAS, in fact, a state religion...but just not a religion based on a deity, that's all. It was a religion based on a set of beliefs about society and humanity. It's usually about core beliefs that people make war on other people...or it's about money, land, and resources...or all of those things wrapped up together.

The core beliefs do not necessarily have to be beliefs about God. Americans have a state religion all their own. It is called "The American Way". Its sacred symbols are the flag, the US dollar, the Liberty Bell, the Pyramid and the All-seeing Eye (and some other masonic symbols), the Fasces, the American Eagle, the Statue of Liberty, the Washington monument, the White House and Congress, the Constitution, and a long tradition of battles and heroes. In the name of this state religion, taught in every American primary school, Americans have gone forth for generations and fought wars all over the globe and extended corporate control over societies and resources all over the place. They have unwittingly caused suffering to uncountable millions of non-Americans in the process. Like Communism, the American Way is a state political religion. Unlike Communism, it also often claims to represent God's will and to indeed be the finest example of God's plan on this Earth. That is a profoundly disturbing phenomenon to those of us who don't buy it.