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Is Communism Synonymous With Atheism?

Are you a Commie?

  • I am an atheist and I long for the glorious workers paradise that will follow the toppling of the Bo

    Votes: 6 3.7%

  • I am an atheist and I am not a Pinko.

    Votes: 127 77.4%

  • On Planet X the communists have all the money.

    Votes: 31 18.9%
  • Total voters
    164
  • Poll closed .

Foster Zygote

Dental Floss Tycoon
Foster Zygote
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In his/her incomprehensibly titled "Atheism in the Wheelchair Made in USA" thread, epix made the claim that "Communism and atheism are effective synonyms", even implying that atheists who state that they are not communist (or Communist - I'm not sure the distinction is clear to epix) are lying due to fear of societal repercussions.

So... If you are an atheist, are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party (or just a generic communist)?
 
No, and I would like to add that this claim is self-evidently nonsense. One is a political system. One is a rejection of belief in a god. I fail to see the connection.

Oh, and according to my political compass test, I actually lean slightly to the right.

EDIT: Very slightly (as in 0.25 "points"). And I tend to flicker back and forth across the dividing line depending on my mood when I take the test. So I guess that would put me dead-center.
 
No. Communism is an ideology which when put into practice in some areas includes anti-religious sentiments. This has little to do with atheism except in an indirect way.

Linda
 
I experimented with communism in high school. Not an easy task if your friends won't participate. Oh, I just remembered. I was a half assed xian in high school, too. I guess I was really a xian communist.
 
I think there might be communism with religion freedom. There is no conflict. There would be conflict if the religion would control people via some religious organization, or if religion itself would be anti-communistic (if it would promote personal ownership).
On the other hand .. most religions would easily be in conflict. And ideal communism is pretty unrealistic.
IMHO the atheistic ideas are part of communism, because religion is often misused in similar way as private wealth.
But generally, from philosophic view, both communism and religion wants people happy, and there is many common ideas between idealized religion and idealized communism.
 
I am an atheist and a socialist, while not a communist, my economic politics are far left.
 
I'm an atheist and a liberal. Now I know many Americans think liberalism and communism are the same, but where I'm from liberalism in on the right side of the political divide.
 
All atheists are communists

All babies are atheists

∴ All babies are communists

!!!:eek:!!!
 
I'm an atheist and a bureaucratist - I think the political system in the movie Brazil is just perfect.

Wasn't Jesus a Communist?
 
I believe most vocal anarcho-capitalists are atheists. Many followers of Ayn Rand, a thoroughly anti-communist thinker, were atheists, as was Rand herself.
And, as has been noted, many prominent Christian thinkers, especially Catholics, have been communists. Heck, the distributist movement is essentially Catholic communism.
There exist atheists that are not communists and theists that are communists. Hence, one's status as a communist does not imply one's status as an athiest.
 
RedIsColourOfPurity said:
I am atheist and Social democrat, not Communist. :D
Click to expand...

I am the same.

I think this misconception is caused by the Communist movement being a modern movement and often in direct conflict with modern theocratic movements. If we examine history we might be able to loosely label a theocratic government that operated under an early prototype of communist or Communist principles.

Yes, the only Communist states so far have been either explicitly or encouraging of atheism. As others have stated easily above there are theologies that mesh well with communist principles. Cuba stepped back its support of atheism and is now explicitly a secular state. Roman Catholicism is still the most wide spread religion in that nation. I could see future generations blending the two together if the Communist regime doesn't entirely collapse. Then take a look at Venezuala. Bolivarianism/Chavismo has heavy religious influence. Even though Chavez has had disputes with both the Catholic heirarchy and Protestants, he calls on his Catholicism and the teachings of Jesus as heavily influential in his political ideals.
 
Pure_Argent said:
No, and I would like to add that this claim is self-evidently nonsense. One is a political system. One is a rejection of belief in a god. I fail to see the connection.

Oh, and according to my political compass test, I actually lean slightly to the right.

EDIT: Very slightly (as in 0.25 "points"). And I tend to flicker back and forth across the dividing line depending on my mood when I take the test. So I guess that would put me dead-center.
Click to expand...

Wait, there's a test? Where? I wanna take the test!

But frankly, much though I believe in the basic human desire to be good I also believe in the basic human desire to be rewarded for putting in extra effort. This can be a non-financial reward if the community you are in is small enough. However I think communism, above the size of a small community, simply cannot work. The lack of viable rewards simply goes against human nature.

Oh, and I'm a Humanist. I guess you could call me an atheist since I find that believing in humans takes up most of my spare belief. It's not easy sometimes.
 
Pea-sized brains can only hold so much nuance, thus there is widespread category conflation. Cake=Pie. Bike=Unicycle. Commie=Atheist.
 
So, what I see here so far is a diversity of economic views among the atheists who post here. Shocking!
 
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