timeimmortal

Yeah, yeah, I know the usual drill for saying something like that. I’m supposed to admit that the Church has done its share of killing in the past, and I’m supposed to acknowledge the possibility that the declared atheism of either or both of the state and its leader(s) may not be the only/major contributing factor to the ongoing bloodbaths. The first is true, the second a lie, but these are the things one is expected to say in these circumstances.

So let’s take all that as read and get down to the nuts and bolts. In at least four countries today, Christians will lose their lives because they are religious believers and the state in which they live is ruled by atheists eager to stamp out religious belief from amongst the general populace.

There are four atheist countries in which atheists are presently jailing, torturing, and murdering Christians. These countries are China, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. (Cuba was doing the same in the past, but has shown some respect for religious freedom for nearly a decade now.) While American atheists customarily try to fall back on a spurious No True Atheist defense, government documents prove this defense to not only be illogical, but incontrovertibly false. For example, the motivation for China’s most recent wave of anti-Christian persecution was laid out in a government document entitled “Notice on Further Strengthening Marxist Atheism Research, Propaganda and Education“. This proves that the motivation underlying the persecution is atheism; specifically the Marxist variant which is the heart of a godless worldview that correctly sees Christianity [and other Religions — Ken] as a serious threat.

…

Given that at least 1,600 Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death and a number of recent Christian deaths have also been confirmed, such as the beating death of Ms. Jiang Zongxiu in prison on June 18, 2004 and the death of Bishop John Han Dingxian on September 12, 2007, there is absolutely no question that Chinese atheists are murdering Christians today and intend to continue doing so.

The situation is much worse in North Korea. In TIA, I quoted a 2004 article published by The Guardian: “The number of prisoners held in the North Korean gulag is not known: one estimate is 200,000, held in 12 or more centres. Camp 22 is thought to hold 50,000. Most are imprisoned because their relatives are believed to be critical of the regime. Many are Christians, a religion believed by Kim Jong-il to be one of the greatest threats to his power.” These North Koreans are not “Kim Jong-ilists”; they are atheists and correctly identify themselves as such.

…In Vietnam, the atheist regime is currently persecuting the Montagnards, a predominantly Christian minority. This is probably done as much for ethnic reasons as anti-religious ones, but the persecution has been purely religious and directed against ethnic Vietnamese Christians in the recent past.

…In Laos, Christians are considered to be enemies of the state and have been viciously persecuted since 1975. Although the persecution has not been as intense in the last three years, it still continues: “At least thirteen Christian villagers who were falsely accused of stirring rebel dissent have been killed by authorities in Laos over the past month, according to an August 7, [2007] report from Compass Direct. The report also states that approximately 200 Christians in the village of Sai Jerern have been arrested and imprisoned.”

The long and short of it is this: the atheism of the ruler can be strongly correlated with the state engaging in brutal and murderous campaigns against its own populace, to the tune of over 50%. In just shy of a century, the bodycount of regimes headed by atheists and/or espousing atheism as state policy has launched itself well clear of 100 million, and the estimate I see most commonly given tends to be on the order of about 148 million (if memory serves). That is a number against which Christian regimes simply cannot compete in the modern era, and I’m pretty sure that if we took a 91-year slice of history — any 91-year slice will do — we would not be able to see a similarly high bodycount generated by Christian hands, even allowing for the fact that technology back then wasn’t geared toward mass-casualty destruction.

And yes, I’ve heard it said that what’s really to blame is the sociopathy of the leader, not his atheism. Sociopaths are, essentially, those who lack any innate moral sensibility. When advantageous, they may adhere to the morality of the surrounding culture. When advantageous, they will flout that same morality in the pursuit of a selfish end. Obviously, their own philosophcal point of view will play a role in determining when and how they do this.

Of course, sociopaths come in all sorts of philosophical colours — funnily, though, history demonstrates to us that it would seem to be the irreligious ones that have the stongest tendency toward mass murder and large bodycounts.

Eh, atheist persecution of Christians is nothing new, any more than was pagan persecution of Christians way back when. In the end, the Church will emerge stronger for its suffering and blood, and the ones who set themselves against her will vanish into the dusty pages of the history books. ‘Twas ever thus.

~ by Kenneth on July 23, 2008.