JimC wrote:
I rather imagine he is asserting that the motivation for the mass murder was not "Atheists trying to wipe out religion"...

Motivation is unimportant. Only actions are important. An immoral act cannot be made moral by a moral motivation. Fact: Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot were all Atheists. Fact: Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot are collectively responsible for the deaths of approximately 100 million people. Conclusion: Atheism is a bad thing, much worse in fact than any religion on earth. QED
One might say, in comparing deaths "motivated" by religion and deaths "motivated" by atheism, that it is the lack of moral foundation in Atheists (ie: irreligion) that motivates them to view other human beings as disposable objects and impediments to their schemes of power rather than as individuals with inherent, unalienable natural rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
One might say that at least religious persecution and murder are motivated by a belief (however malign) that "God" ordered them to do it, and the penalty for failing to do as God commands is eternal torment, whereas Atheists have absolutely no excuse or rational, are their own gods and pursue their selfish god-like pursuits without scruple or compunction because nothing in their moral or ethical makeup constrains their self-centeredness and selfishness that causes them to view others as lesser beings subject to the whims and caprices of those who pursue power.
"Seth is Grandmaster Zen Troll who trains his victims to troll themselves every time they think of him" Robert_S
"All that is required for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Edmund Burke
"Those who support denying anyone the right to keep and bear arms for personal defense are fully complicit in every crime that might have been prevented had the victim been effectively armed." Seth
© 2013/2014/2015/2016 Seth, all rights reserved. No reuse, republication, duplication, or derivative work is authorized.