Atheistic Crimes

I have been reading two books:
Dinesh D’souza’s “What’s So Great About Christianity”
Robert J. Hutchinson’s “The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Bible”
The first one was given to me to read by a friend and the other I bought at Barnes and Noble’s because I started reading it in the aisle and wanted to finish reading it and have it for reference.

They both make the same point and use similar statistics when comparing atheism with Christianity. It has been assumed for centuries that religion is the cause of great violence and evil in the world. I have always thought John Lennon’s song “Imagine” is the perfect example of this presumed truth. In what I consider a solid nomination for the most evil song ever written the former Beatle wrote in his hit single:

“Imagine there’s no Heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below usAbove us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace.”

The “no religion” mantra from the 60’s and the 70’s is alive and sweeping our nation like an urban myth with email. The rise of radical Islam is the cause for a neo-secular campaign.

The murder and destruction caused by the church in history can not be ignored but it should be balanced with facts. D’souza states that those who were killed in the Spanish Inquisition trials over a period of 350 years was between 1,500 to 4,000 people. In America, the Salem witch trials are sited as examples of the result of intolerant Christian religion. On page 207 D’souza states that less than 25 people where executed in these dark days of American Christianity. Hutchinson uses the Encyclopaedia Britannica to get the number 2,000 dead in the Spanish Inquisition and the book “A History of the Jews” for an estimate of 32,000. Maximum, that is about 97 people a year.

For a total D’souza says “the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the witch burnings killed approximately 200,000 people.” That number is spread out over a 600 year period of church history. We should remember that these were the years 1095-1692. None of these tragedies have occurred in the 20th century. In fact, it has been over 300 years since the church committed these unjustifiable crimes against humanity.

Yet in the 1900’s, the 20th century, or the last one hundred years atheistic states with anti-Christian motives have killed about 170,000,000 people. Here is a list of over 40,000,000 who were killed by atheism from 1900 until present:

USSR: 61,000,000 (1917-1987)
Communist China: 35,200,000 (1949-present)
Mao’s Army: 3,400,000 (1923-1949)
Nazi Germany: 20,000,000 (1932-1945)
Communist Poland: 1,600,000 (1945-1948)
Communist Cambodia: 2,000,000 (1975-1979)
Communist Vietnam: 1,600,000 (1945-1975)
Communist Yugoslavia: 1,000,000 (1944-1987)
Anti-Christian Mexican Revolution: 1,400,000 (1900-1920)
Turkey: 1,800,000 (1900-1918)
Pakistan: 1,500,000 (1958-1987)
Japan: 5,900,000 (1936-1945)
The most deadly force in the 1900’s was atheism. Then add the 25,000,000 soldiers who died fighting in WWII against the atheists.

Compare the numbers:
The church killed 200,000 people in 597 years from 1095-1692. This figures out to be 335 people a year and includes the crusades, the inquisition and the witch trials. About one a day, 300 years ago.
Atheism has killed 170,000,000 in the last 108 years. That is 1,574,074 people a year. About 4,312 a day including everyday of your life.

The world of man is a dangerous and ugly place, but mankind is safer and more beautiful when he embraces his creator and recognizes that there is absolute truth and absolute evil.

John Lennon ends his song “Imagine” by singing:

“You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one.”

Lennon was indeed a dreamer, and a prophet of false dreams.
Our only hope is to proclaim the truth and defend individual freedom to respond.