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Well, technically atheist extremists would uphold Soviet-style “state atheism” where religious groups are repressed violently and religious affiliation is outlawed. Killing and repressing people for being Christian or Buddhist or whatever would be just as bad as doing the same thing to people for being atheist. Of course, unless you live somewhere like Xinjiang Province or North Korea, you’re very unlikely to encounter any significant organisation which seeks to actively force people to abandon their religions.
Basically, unless someone is running a scam like Scientology, promoting a violent extremist sect like Wahhabi Islam, shunning “apostates” like Mormons or just running a flat-out doomsday cult or something, people should be allowed to practice a religion, own a holy book and convene in a designated place of worship with peers of their faith. They just shouldn’t be allowed to compel others to join that faith, or enjoy privileges from the state such as a blanket tax-free status.
I would suggest that atheists could also be extremely capitalist and pursue… Darwinian economics…and be very hostile to religion.
Or institute a secular religion like we see in Brave New World
The Russian Orthodox Church continued to operate uninterrupted during the entire history of the Soviet Union. They didn’t persecute religion, they persecuted the non-Christians. Stalin tried to move all the Jews to an oblast in Siberia, for example.
That’s not true. The Russian Orthodox Church had a significant number of its (culturally and artistically significant) buildings tore down and a significant amount of bishops and priests killed.
The bishops and priests that were killed were killed because they were against the state, not because they were practicing religion. Stalin, like Mao with Buddhism, used the Orthodox Church to wield power.
I’ve come to the conclusion that aliens would probably have more in common with the the thiest extremists. You know the ones…
A society advanced enough to go to another star… would be able to learn everything they wanted to, about us, without coming into the system.
More pointedly, they’d realize we’re fucking psychos that nuked ourselves. Multiple times.
There’s three motivations, I think, that would justify aliens coming:
- they’re genocidal maniacs.
- they’re here to enslave us.
- they’re Space Mormons.
Bonus reason: they’re Space Mormons and we refuse so they become genocidal maniacs thst enslave the handful of survivors.
Ive had an idea in my head for a bit for a sci-fi setting that youve just reminded me of, where humans have sent out a number of colony ships to the closest hundred or so nearby stars- and almost all of the ones that have succeed have been crewed by cults, very dedicated religious groups and similar, or at least very dogmatic and extreme ideologies, because those had been the kind of group to be willing to spend all the money to create a starship with no real possibility of profit from it, had the zeal and skill at propaganda to instill a singular sense of mission across several generations, and had the desire to create their own society away from everyone else in order to make everyone there follow their rules. It then would have created a bit of a problem where, several generations down the line when this colonization wave has resulted in fairly large and powerful civilizations around the nearby stars, a sizable fraction have ended up seeing their journey as some kind of semi-mythical exodus from some kind of lost homeland that they’ve assigned religious importance too, and sent crusades back to the solar system to reclaim, putting them into conflict with both the people still living around Sol and all the other factions doing the exact same thing at roughly the same time, only ending when their own colonies of offshoot groups and exiles start doing the same thing to them and distracting them from being able to send crusader fleets.
It does rather mirror the founding story of the united states (and one of the options in Surviving Mars)
That could be an interesting setting.
War of Theseus.
Vaguely reminds me of a backstory for a stardrifter campaign I homebrewed. (My universe, stardrifter rules.)
Basically, earth history was that scienctists and academic types fled in the first Terran exodus. These became super advanced, called “solarians” though eventually also splitting offshoots on other worlds all of which were connected by jump portal (basically star gates in function but they moved a sphere one way, rather than a gate you walk through)
The second group were zealots that stayed behind becoming dumber and regressing, surviving a nuclear winter, until getting out to the stars and meeting the solarians, whose tech they steal but never actually understand. Arcana being the religion they follow literally using solarians tech as magic.
Shitnhappens back on earth driving humans away and wiping all life. from it as a galactic civil war happens across a few eons or so.
Eventually, a new humanoid-ish race evolves again that was in the middle of their Bronze Age when some solarians exiled come back and introduce religion in the hopes of creating super soldiers.
Things change and the setting of the actual campaign is analogous to contemporary technology…. When Stellarian assholes show up preaching the good word Arcana
At which point did they begin the genophage?
I read that last one as “Space Morons” at first, and tbf they probably exist and may stop in one day.
Space Mormons, space morons…. I don’t want to poke too much fun at Mormons… but… that could be a writing prompt.
Client species shows up proselytizing for another older patron species. Client species speaks in macros
Given how prevalent religion is in human history, I wonder how many would convert(?) and join the Space Mormons.
Lots.
Though some would convert for political power
In practice that seems to be mostly true. But I wouldn’t rule out the possibly of an atheist extremist trying to eliminate religious from the world. It’s important to realize that they’re still individuals that used an ideology to justify their actions. I know it’s harder with atheism because it’s not an ideology but a lack thereof, but I would argue it’s still important to recognize what comes down to human behavior and that it can come from anywhere.
Still a funny comic.
The commies, like Stalin and Mao, persecuted and murdered religious people.
As I said above- Stalin persecuted specific religious groups. The Russian Orthodox Church continued without abuse. Yes, atheism was promoted, but it was the non-Orthodox Christians that got persecuted.
As for Mao, same thing. Buddhists were allowed to continue practicing Buddhism under Mao. Mao just used Buddhism (and China still does) as a tool to wield power through government control. Again, it’s the people who do not practice this form of Buddhism that are persecuted.
The Chinese are still doing it to Tibetans and Uyghurs today.
Dictatorships are an inherent perversion of communist ideals. Also China is not coming from an atheistic place.
Stalin and Mao created cults of personality around themselves. They share a lot more in common with religious extremism than secular humanism.
The full comic adds a bit, but it’s still funny. The Oatmeal has a bunch of good ones!
