I have no explanation for this phenomenon, but occasionally I'll receive multiple emails (from different people) about the same article on my site, all within a very short period of time. And I'm not talking about new articles, but ones that have been online for months or even years.
Recently, it was people taking issue with my article about Hitler. And since the emails all brought up the same thing, I figured I might as well officially address it here.
The "issue" was the assertion that more people have been killed by atheistic regimes (or Socialist regimes, depending on the emailer) than in all religious wars combined. Of course, these people neglect to take into account that Hitler's forces were in no way atheistic. Heck, atheists were among those he specifically targeted for annihilation.
But aside from that, there are a couple other things to consider. And that's the fact that religious wars have been going on ever since organized religion took hold in society. The death toll these emailers mention has only been racked up within the past hundred years or so, when (a) there were a lot more people around to kill, and (b) the methods of killing people were far more efficient than before. Imagine, if you dare, the Crusades being fought with modern weaponry rather than swords. It would be a bloodbath to make Pol Pot envious.
The other thing to consider is this: The death toll in question has largely been the result of individuals (Stalin, Mao, etc.) who were mad for power, wanting to control others… wanting to control the world, for all I know. In other words, they weren't murders committed in the name of atheism, in order to spread non-belief far and wide.
Religious wars, on the other hand, seem to be regarded as less significant, even though they've been going on for millennia longer. And they have specifically been fought in the name of one god or another, where the purpose has almost always been to eradicate the infidels, or to convert them (which I almost regard as a more disdainful goal) and therefore to spread the victor's religion.
Perhaps these emailers don't see how incredibly significant this difference is, but I sure do.
The fact of the matter is this: there is nothing inherent about atheism that would inspire non-believers to go out and murder anyone else, let alone millions of others. Religions, on the other hand, routinely contain edicts to that effect from "god" in their "holy" texts. It is frightfully easy to "justify" murder "in the name of god" by using these words. That's why we have individuals who take it upon themselves to blow away abortion doctors, to beat gays to bloody pulps, and to fly jumbo jets into skyscrapers.
And yet, these are the same religions that these emailers say promote love, peace, goodwill, and all sorts of warm fuzzies. Clearly, they haven't yet acknowledged this schizoid aspect of their religions. They're in denial of the dark side of religious faith… how it is the greatest divisive force the earth has ever seen, rather than a unifying one. And this is why these people so casually dismiss all the genocide done in the name of God over the years.
I'd laugh if it weren't so disgusting.
