Setanta wrote:I'm up for a little fun, O'George. Do you care to assert that the Spanish Falange, the Italian Fascisti or the NSDAP were "atheistic" organizations, which rejected organized religion, and made no appeal to the participation of the people in religious institutions? Shall i go off to find examles of Hitler's appeals to religion and statements of his mission as a defender of Christianity? Do you care to provide evidence of an atheistic "crusade" on the part of Stalin, the "Red Tsar?"
This should be good.
I made no claims about Franco or the Falange, which, as you noted was decidedly religious in its beliefs.
Soviet Communism did indeed embrace an avowedly atheistic philosophy, and membership in the party, "the ruling elite", required it. The regime actively pursued atheistic programs and practices designed to suppress religion - and, as well, to advance the international "proletarian revolution". At the same time it was not above appealing to both nationalism and religion when it believed it needed such support in the face of grave threats - particularly that of the "Great Patriotic War".
Same goes for Nazism - the core movement was decidedly anti religious, but it didn't hesitate to exploit whatever appeals were available to its rather cynical propaganda organs in order to mobilize its population(s) for war and genocide.
I have no doubt you can drag out numerous references to appeals to various traditional virtues, including religion, by both regimes. However these actions were cynically peripheral to their real aims and the actual ideas that animated their programs.
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