Whether we like it or not, it's going to come up. How can we respond? Clearly arguing that Stalinism is not the result of too much rationality and critical thinking, or that Hitler was a Christian (or represented himself as one) is not effective. Like an indestructible killer from a slasher movie, the Hitler Argument just keeps getting back up for a sequel.
I propose that the best way to deal with this argument is to turn it against its wielder:
Believer: "Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, I INVOKE THEE!" *thunderclap*
Thinker: "Can I take it from your use of this argument that you are opposed to things like genocide, mass rape, and torture?"
Believer: "Of course! In fact, unless you want to be on the slippery slope to Stalin, you need belief in a higher power to provide you with a solid basis for morality."
Thinker: "So these things are wrong in principle, correct?"
Believer: "Yes, and the only way something can be wrong in principle is if there's a Supreme Moral Lawgiver. Otherwise it's all subjective, right? Checkmate!"
Thinker: "Could you please turn in your Bible to Numbers 31 and read verses 17 and 18 aloud for us?
Believer: "'Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.' But you see, God had a perfectly good reason for this--"
Thinker: "Oh, I'm sure you think it's entirely justifiable. Now, if we believe the teachings of tender Jesus meek and mild, what is your Moral Lawgiver doing with all of those Jews from the Holocaust now that Hitler is done with them? Considering that few if any of them accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior before they died..."
Believer: "Um..."
Thinker: "I think we're all familiar with the historic Christian doctrine of Hell. Namely, that those who do not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior must depart into everlasting fiery torment. Those Jews, and any victims of the other dictators who didn't believe the right things are now trapped in an eternal concentration camp where the torture just goes on and on and on and on, forver and ever and ever and ever and ever. The first ten trillion years are only the beginning. So, what was it you have against Hitler, Stalin and the rest?"
The fact of the matter is that if the Abrahamic deity existed, he would be a totalitarian despot in the mold of the believers' favorite atheists. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to phrase it the other way around. For nearly two thousand years before any modern totalitarianism raised its ugly head, the Christian West looked forward to the establishment of a totalitarian state as an ideal. In the "Kingdom of Heaven," there is an Absolute Ruler who knows all, sees all, controls all and punishes all. There is no dissent. All rebels and enemies are herded together into a vast place of torture. Everyone dresses the same[1] and lives only to praise the Leader.[2] As Christopher Hitchins so eloquently puts it, a celestial North Korea.
With this as the prevailing concept of the perfect society, is it any surprise that as belief in its eschatological fulfillment in Heaven began to wane, that people might try to create the ideal here on Earth? Here's a clue: Most people know that Hitler sought to create a "Thousand Year Reich." Now, why would Hitler want his empire to last a thousand years, rather than five thousand or ten thousand or forever? Wouldn't he at least want his Reich to endure longer than the Pharaohs and the Romans? Is there some place in our Western cultural heritage that speaks of an ideal regime that lasts a thousand years?
Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
--Revelation 20:6
Speaking of the Book of Revelation, it isn't secularists who have wet dreams about the apocalyptic destruction of Planet Earth and the genocidal slaughter of most of the population.[3] Unlike the vast majority of modern secularists, believers still uphold the totalitarian ideal, provided it's under the management of their god. With a straight face, they can explain to you how they believe that torture, mass rape, and genocide are in fact the will of a Being of absolute moral perfection, preserved for the ages in his "holy" Word. Not merely forgiveable or excusable or even justifiable, but worthy of unending praise.
If the believer wishes to pose as an indignant enemy of totalitarianism, then s/he has an obligation to join us in rejecting the totalitarian ideal, which is embodied first and most fully in the "sacred" texts of the Abrahamic religions.
NOTES:
1. Revelation 6:11, 7:9
2. Revelation 4:1-11
3. Case in point: the Left Behind series.
