This is a well-known theist canard. Nazi Germany did not “turn it’s [sic] back on religion.” Hitler was a Roman Catholic, he just didn’t like the church as an establishment. It was his religion that led him to want to exterminate the jews - because the official RC doctrine until relatively recently had been that Jews were the killers of Christ. This is no longer the official doctrine of the RC Church.
Hello wanstronian. I think it may be a bit of an overstatement to say that Hitler’s religion led him to want to exterminate Jews. Some Jews were killers of Christ, and the Romans had a part in it too. That is history. However, the Lord’s prayer and central teachings of the Church call for us to forgive, in fact, we are “required” to forgive.
Hitler had a build-up of resentment and hatred toward Jews, especially those who had great power in Germany. He was xenophobic, and he saw the presence of Jewish wealth as a territorial contamination. He was blind.
I think it’s fair to say that nobody is killed “in the name of theism” (in its broadest sense). However it **is **fair to say that people were (and still are) killed in the name of [insert religion here].
Religion is way over-stated in terms of causation. When you study the lives of suicide bombers, their actions are based on resentment, hatred, and the desire to be heroes. There is no religion that encourages people to act on resentment and hatred. All religions encourage forgiveness, in one way or another.
This is where religion differs from atheism. Where theocratic regimes have existed, their extermination of their enemies has always been “supported” by the firm conviction that their God endorses their actions. The crusades were a perfect example of this.
The crusades were an example of human territorial behavior rationalized by religious leaders. All people are capable of error, theists and atheists alike.
However, atheism does not provide any rationale by which to commit murder. Religion, unfortunately, does.
Stalin was an atheist, and he had “rationale”. Of course, we are not talking about “atheism leading to the rationale”. People behave out of fear, resentment, and hatred, and they rationalize their behaviors to suit themselves and society. This is a psychological issue.
However, it behooves people of all faiths, or no faith, to encourage forgiveness, agreed? All of us get angry at some time or another, and all of us come to see some segment of the population as a threat. There is a place for understanding and forgiveness.
I think it was Einstein who famously asked, “Is the universe friendly?”. When we behave as friends, we will project such friendliness from the universe, from God, from wherever we project.
