A Modest Observation

Apropos of yesterday's post relating to what an atheistic society might look like, we do have one example of how a governing philosophy that rules out belief in God as one of its basic premises: Communism.   The communistic governing philosophy is based entirely on the material (that which can be perceived by the senses or can be shown to exist by way of reasoning from that which can be perceived by the senses).   This response to a question about religion posted on a website devoted to Marxism is typical.  The author in discussion the relationship between Communism and religion quotes Trotsky "We are of opinion that Atheism, as an inseparable element of the materialist view of life, is a necessary condition for the theoretical education of the revolutionist."

So, what does a completely Godless governing philosophy produce?  Horror and death on an industrial scale.  Communism killed many tens of millions of people and destroyed the lives of many tens of millions more.  No one who has read the Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression can doubt that wholesale death and destruction are the necessary result of any implementation of this Godless governing philosophy.  Everywhere it has been tried regardless of a society's pre-communist cultural background the implementation of a Communist regime always and inevitably leads to massive death and horror. 


Why should this be so?  Possibly because the philosophy itself requires behavior that so contradicts human nature that the only way to produce such unnatural behavior is by coercion and punishment.  Possibly also because by banishing God from society the practitioners of this vile philosophy are left without any moral compass; all things are permitted and therefore no restraints exist on the measures that can be taken to enforce necessary behavior and discourage improper thoughts and actions.  

Perhaps the results of Communism are unique to the Communistic philosophy and have nothing to do with its banishment of God from society.  Perhaps it is possible to have a  completely atheistic Godless society without the Communistic slaughter.  Perhaps.  But who really wants to conduct that experiment?