Quote:
Originally Posted by Haak
Okay don't read anything into this. I'm not trying to make a point. I'm genuinly asking because i don't really know and want to make sure and i might as well ask here because it seems like the most relevant thread to ask in. So here's my question: Weren't Mao and Stalin motivated by atheistic ideologies?
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Don't ask me about Mao. Stalin was most likely motivated by will for power and paranoia and would have used any ideological fig leaf that seems fit.
Now. communism is at his heart an economic theory (I won't discuss if and how ill-founded) and doesn't have much to say about metaphysics. Communist revolutions or interventions were always justified as means to liberate the working class or securing their ruling position, not to stop somebody practicing the wrong religion. Persecution of clerics in revolutionary Russia were justified by their alliance (real or alleged) with the former ruling class, not so much their belief.
The goals of the faithful early supporters of communism was to improve the people's living conditions. I.e. their motivation was a sense of compassion and justice. Of course, as soon as you add the principle of the end justifying the means you have a recipe for disaster. But the same happened in Christianity and Islam, as history proves.