This thread, despite appearances, is not a copycat thread.   The "God Delusion" thread is just getting too hard to access--it's too long.

And I'm sure, since Mudcat atheists have had no problem with over 1900 posts of the "God Delusion", they'll have no problem with ""The Atheist Delusion".   After all, we've been assured by them that "delusion" is not in itself an attack--perish the thought.

It's also amazing how much of what can only be called historical tripe is written on Mudcat, especially, it seems, by atheists.

1) More people died as a result of religion than as the result of the Hitler, Stalin and Mao regimes.

Patently absurd.

There weren't enough people alive on the earth before the 20th century long enough to make this possible.




2)   Hitler "sucked up" to the Catholic Church.   

More drivel--this time endorsed by a non-atheist as well as the usual suspects.


It's baffling how many Mudcatters think they establish something as a fact by just stating it--or just by linking to a website.   Don't they ever read books about history?


From Hitler's Pope, by John Cornwell, a book which obviously theorizes that Pius XII was in fact "Hitler's Pope".

German Catholics opposed Hitler both before and after the Machtergreifung.   

p 108:   "By the turn of the decade" (end of 1920's) " in fact, Catholic criticism of the National Socialists was vehement and sustained in the press and from the pulpits"

What changed?   The Concordat, an spectacularly disastrous attempt by Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII, to negotiate a treaty with Hitler favorable to the Holy See.   

Even after the Concordat, not all German Catholics fell into line.

There's a lot more to say--but no more time.

However, it's about time Mudcatters start seeing things in shades of gray instead of jumping on the first cardboard villain that shows itself--especially when that approach conveniently supports the poster (usually an atheist") 's own prejudices.

I'm still, by the way, waiting for--anybody--to cite an atheist regime which has been successful and treated its own people well.