God-Men: Atheism & The Cults of Personality
By- Vish Carvaka
One of the first things you might want to say while on a first date with an atheist is“ but weren ' t Stalin, Mao and Hitler atheists?” It may be an attempt to direct his or her attention to a seemingly significant quandary, or it may be that atheism is a turn-off and you just don ' t want to spend the remaining twenty minutes until the meal is served learning more about the person or that branch of philosophy. Knowing that this question is not just for casual conversations but also raised in major debates, this particular individual will choose to eat a cold meal rather than let you score a debate point.
Atheism is an acknowledgment that there is no evidence for the existence of any god, deity or theistic being of any kind. While this is used mainly to apply to men who claimed to be gods several thousand years ago, it is not a static observation. Atheism is as much against the“ cults of personality” that men like Hitler, Stalin, Mao and scores of others created. If you call yourself an“ atheist,” that does not mean that you have the freedom to replace Jesus and Muhammad with your own good self.
Hitler the Deliverer
Adolf Hitler was not an atheist. He often criticized Christianity as being too“ weak” for his taste, but that doesn ' t make him an atheist, because that is not what atheism is about, is it? By the same token, he spoke of Islam as the only religion he truly admired, and mused about how the German people would have been the natural leaders of the“ Ummah”( Muslim world) had they adopted the religion of Muhammad. Hitler hated Hinduism because of the polytheism, idol worship and " inferior " race of its adherents, and rejected suggestions about bringing back the old pagan Germanic gods, as they had been clearly“ defeated” by the religion of Christ. Notice that none of the reasons included the words,“ There is no evidence...”
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