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Originally Posted by Yakk
In the case of Communism, the Atheism requirement was about removing alternatives to the Communists social structure. By banning or surpressing organized religion, they removed organizations that did not line up with their belief systems.
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So what I said was correct. It was not about "spreading" or "converting" atheism, atheism was just a change to facilitate the broader purpose to rule people under Communism.
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Religions, typically in the human experience, have been about governing people. The divine right of kings. Sharia law. The Church of England broke away from the Catholic church because the King wanted to do something against Catholic rules, and didn't want the Catholics messing with him.
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Specifically it was because he wanted a divorce so he could marry someone else. He was fine otherwise. The divine right of kings was used primarily to control the people by making the head of the country not only their ruler by human law, but also by church mandate. The kings got the blessing of the Pope in order to further solidify their stance as ruler of the land. In this way, the people were fearful of their rulers from both a legal and religious obligation.
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It is only in a handful of recent Western nations do they claim that Religion and State are seperate spheres.
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They didn't "claim" anything. America was created
because of the idea of a separation of church and state,
specifically so that those living here could be free to worship whomever they chose (or not worship anyone at all). It's not that some "western nations" distorted the otherwise normal combination of church and state; they intentionally cleaved the two apart.