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Next I give you.
Code of Hammurabi created in 1760 B.C.
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In other news someone tried to tell me communism started from Atheism. They brought up Hitler and Mao, and Stalin, and Pol Pot. Here is my response.
Lets talk about Hitler first.
Adolf Hitler
He was raised Roman Catholic, yet never attended mass after leaving his parents home. He was quoted as having said the following.
"As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice"
So he was religious, but was not without some criticism of his religion.
"The Mohammedan religion too would have been much more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness..."
And what did this vile creature do in the name of his Religion? Ugh, Has any one heard of the Holocaust? Here is an excerpt from an essay that discussed Hitlers beliefs.
In his day, hatred of Jews was the norm. In great measure it was sponsored by the two major religions of Germany, Catholicism and Lutheranism. He greatly admired Martin Luther, who openly hated the Jews. Luther condemned the Catholic Church for its pretensions and corruption, but he supported the centuries of papal pogroms against the Jews. Luther said, "The Jews deserve to be hanged on gallows seven times higher than ordinary thieves," and "We ought to take revenge on the Jews and kill them." "Ungodly wretches" he calls the Jews in his widely read Table Talk.
Hitler seeking power, wrote in Mein Kampf. "... I am convinced that I am acting as the agent of our Creator. By fighting off the Jews. I am doing the Lord's work." Years later, when in power, he quoted those same words in a Reichstag speech in 1938.
Religion Of Hitler
"The Vaticans support of Hitler is also a matter of historical record. The Vatican signed a treaty with Nazi Germany on July 20, 1933. Hitler repeatedly referred to himself as a Christian both in speeches and in his writings, and was never excommunicated by the church. Every Nazi soldier was required to wear a belt buckle with the inscription "Gott mit uns," meaning God is with us. "
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Mao Z. Was just a communist who was an Atheist. Seeing as Atheism on not a religion there is no way it could be the cause of what he did. He was after control and power.
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Stalin.
He was also an Atheist. But then we have this.
"his personal experience of "surveillance, spying, invasion of inner life, violation of feelings", in Stalin's own words, influenced the design of his future terror state. (in reference to his years a seminary school)
Further reading has led me to believe that his Atheistic beliefs had nothing to do whit his actions ether. He was a communist, but communism did not come from Atheism as discussed below.
"Marx had clearly identified organized religion as a threat to the worker because the loyalty of individual workers should be to each other, not to a supreme being. As a result, Stalin took steps to limit the power of religion in the USSR. Churches and mosques were closed and converted into schools or movie theaters. Religious icons were melted down, and meetings were banned throughout the country. Religion was forced to go underground, in order to hide from the prying eyes of Stalin's police. "
The went against religion because to him it seemed to be a threat to his power. If people worshiped their god what was left for him?
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And again with Pol Pot. Religion was seen as something that could take away his power
Unity means the organization had to embrace all the information, everybody had to be the same in term of clothes, language, food, social status, cultureetc. Any ethnic group dared to protest was murdered, because it was thought as "contradicted to the organization's policies". The right to expression, assembly, and vote were all abolished, because all of these were thought as "break the organization's unity".
"reactionary religions which are detrimental to Democratic Kampuchean people are absolutely forbidden"
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And now let us tackle communism. The connection of Atheism and Communism is very simple. I have stated it above more than once. The word here is convenience. It is a corruption of a belief, or a non-belief rather, to suit a purpose. In this case the purpose of Communism. Any powerful organized group of people is a threat. And was does religion do? It brings a ton of people together under their belief system and lends the 'power' to the leader of that system, weather it be a god or a prophet. Under that system the people will start holding their religion higher then the communist ideal. In which under the communist the religious had to be squashed. This is not a case of Atheism causing Communism, It is a case of an opportunist seeing a tool that could be used to maintain control and prevent losing it. Most Communists are Atheists. But many people do not realize that most Atheists in are not Communists.
"Another reason is the "moral barometer." God, whether you believe in Him or not, represents all of the goodness in the world. Contrary to Marx's opinion, religion gives people a reason to fight tyranny, namely that it's wrong. If Communist governments acknowledged the existence of God, then their citizens would realize how horrible their governments really are. This is much too dangerous an option. Instead, God must not exist. To accomplish this, Communists create the "cults of personality" described above to channel all religous drive into the State. The State, represented by a Big Brother or a Stalin or even a Lenin, is the supreme good for which all people must slave for. The government can never be wrong if the government is God! Therefore, it seems that Communists don't not believe in God, they fear Him.
They fear the idea of someone ELSE having the power. Even Stalin himself recognized the mind-fuck and hypnotizing effects of religion when he started to lose power.
"proof that Stalin was not acting on atheistic principles could be seen during the opening salvos of the Barbarossa campaign during World War II. Things were not going well for the Russian armies at that point and Stalin, facing a possible revolution on the home front was searching for ways to amass a broad base of support for the war effort. To achieve this, he reinstated the Orthodox Church hierarchy to serve Mother Russia. This shows that Stalin was by no means averse to promoting religion if it suited his purposes to do so. "
We could talk forever on communism> Instead I will leave you with this quote on the Marxist philosophy.
"Marxism renounces religion, not because of religious doctrine, but because of the actions of "religious" men."
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And a quote an Atheism.
"Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature. It could be said that Atheism has a doctrine to question and a dogma to doubt. It is the human mind in its natural environment, nothing is too holy to be investigated, nor too sacred to be questioned. The Atheist Bible, it could be said, has but one word: "THINK." Atheism is the complete emancipation of the human mind from the chains and fears of superstition."
Let us not forget that we are all Atheist. We do not all believe in the same things. Some do not believe in a Christian god. Some do not believe in Thor. Some think Loki was a myth. I will leave you with a very simple definition to understand.
atheist /eist/ Pronunciation Key - [ey-thee-ist] -noun
a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings.
[Origin: 1565-75; < Gk the(os) godless + -ist]
-roguemind
