Atheism in the former Soviet bloc

robert0259
Posts: 19
Joined: 2007-01-31
User is offlineOffline
Atheism in the former Soviet bloc

I have a friend who was raised atheist in communist Hungary, now after 30 years over here he's a stark raving theist---

Was the atheism they practiced in Soviet bloc true atheism? Wasn't the worship of the state a form of religion? And the gods were Marx and Lenin..among others. Yes/no?

Robert


darth_josh
High Level DonorHigh Level ModeratorGold Member
darth_josh's picture
Posts: 2650
Joined: 2006-02-27
User is offlineOffline
Yes, but even better.The

Yes, but even better.

The soviets (and our own Madalyn Murray O'Hair) unwittingly provided us with proof that trying to indoctrinate anyone with a belief of any kind doesn't consistently work.

Telling someone over and over that there (is or is not) a god only causes them to feel sympathy for the other side. The harder it's pushed, the farther away someone goes from the preaching.

Why do you think we ask people so many questions?

Do you think asking people questions makes them think of more questions on their own?

Besides that, would you want someone constantly telling you what to think or what you are?

That's what the idea is now, in my opinion. Asking questions. Discussing answers or finding new questions.

Anything else becomes some monstrosity of logical fallacy. Like an ad hoc straw hominemTM darth_josh.

Case in point. Not all soviets were atheists or 'antagonistic' toward belief. Otherwise, why would there still be ridiculously revered gigantic cathedrals that some of them died protecting during world war 2. Right?

Atheist Books, purchases on Amazon support the Rational Response Squad server, which houses Celebrity Atheists.