Why do some christians seem to think every 20th century despot was an atheist?

Actually, Stalin was trained as a Jesuit and they never rescinded his credentials.

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Wikipedia:

Stalin's beliefs are complicated and sometimes contradictory. As the historians Vladislav Zubok and Constantine Pleshakov noted, he received his education at Theological Seminary at Tiflis (Tbilisi), where his mother sent him to become a priest, but he became a closet atheist.[19] Zubok and Pleshakov further noted, "Many would later note, however, that his works were influenced by a distinctly Biblical style" and "his atheism remained rooted in some vague idea of a God of nature."[20]

Regarding one famous claim about evolution, historians doubt one later Soviet claim that he read The Origin of Species at the age of thirteen while still at Gori, and told a fellow pupil that it proved the nonexistence of God. The story fails on several obvious accounts, including Stalin's remaining religious, even pious, for some years longer.[21] In fact Professor of Religion Hector Avalos noted, "Stalin, in fact, had a complex relationship with religious institutions in the Soviet Union."[22]

Historian Edvard Radzinsky used recently discovered secret archives and noted a story that changed Stalin's attitude toward religion.[23] The story in which Ilya, Metropolitan of the Lebanon Mountains, claimed to receive a sign from heaven that "The churches and monasteries must be reopened throughout the country. Priests must be brought back from imprisonment, Leningrad must not be surrendered, but the sacred icon of Our Lady of Kazan should be carried around the city boundary, taken on to Moscow, where a service should be held, and thence to Stalingrad [Tsaritsyn]."[24] Shortly thereafter, Stalin's attitude changed and "Whatever the reason, after his mysterious retreat, he began making his peace with God. Something happened which no historians has yet written about. On his orders many priests were brought back to the camps. In Leningrad, besieged by the Germans and gradually dying of hunger, the inhabitants were astounded, and uplifted, to see wonder-working icon Our Lady of Kazan brought out into the streets and borne in procession."[25] Radzinsky asked, "Had he seen the light? Had fear made him run to his Father? Had the Marxist God-Man simply decided to exploit belief in God? Or was it all of these things at once?."[26]

During the Second World War Stalin reopened the Churches. One reason could be to motivate the majority of the population who had Christian beliefs. Then by changing the official policy of the party and the state towards religion yet another tool, the Church and its clergymen, would be to his disposal in mobilizing the war effort.[citation needed]

I don't think it has anything to do with religion, I agree with you that it is a lust for power, People are people and we all have certain bad personality traits, lying, cheating, killing, greed, egomania, sexual lust, lust for power, etc. These things have nothing to do with beliefs on anything. Religion or the lack of does not mitigate these qualities. It is up to us as individuals to keep the bad desires at bay, or at a healthy level.. Example what if the Christians that bomb abortion clinics used that zeal for their religion for something else, like offering the clinic's patients alternatives to abortion, rather than just blowing them up...

And I know quite a few athiests and am friends with them and they seem to be basically good people, they keep their lusts and desires under control, not because they think God or Allah or whoever will knock them upside the head if they don't, but because they adhere to society's rules.

Even athiests know right from wrong.

Sera: Hitler was not only a Christian, he was a Catholic. AND the Catholic church never excommunicated him. In fact, during Hitlers reign, they did much to help him in that they helped "hide" his fortunes stolen from the Jews; art, jewelry, etc. You need to learn some History.

Being a Christian does not make someone inherently good. Nor does being an Atheist make someone inherently bad.

But religious people can't (or wont) get that through their thick, single-minded skulls.

Of course it's just about the lust for power.

Let's hope both the Atheists _and_ the Christians remember that next time they want to accuse the other side of spreading the most tyranny.

Agreed.

Some of you religious people need to fix their insecurity issues and stop blaming the atheists!

Also you need to STOP denying what the church has done in the past. Accept your religion's past. If you put that much faith in it why deny its past? It may be ugly, so what?

Stop acting like the Japanese government (who rewrote their own history books of the WWII period - so they dont look like a bunch of insane mass murderers, rapists, etc) - it just shows how much you cant deal with and accept you own actions, and who you really are.

Grow and spine and accept your religion and its history for what it is. Same goes for the Japanese government and those Japanese people who stood idly by and let it happen.

Christians aren't interested in ACTUAL history, they think that's from the devil. They only care about THEIR version of history, which says that Hitler was an atheist, the crusaders weren't true christians, and Bush is a liar that isn't really a christian (unless you live in one of the states that voted him into office. Then you have to give him more time for his plan to work.).

Being born into a religion doesnt make you a follower nor believer of it. I would definitely have to agree with you, it was there selfish lust for power that led them to their end.

I think it was about a lust for power. Unfortunately, religion and power often go hand in hand. So when some people think of power, they think of religion next. If a power-hungry lunatic has no religion, then they connect the lunacy to that lack of religion instead of putting the blame where it belongs--on that individual.

Absolutely. One can look at our current situation with Iraq and see that Bush, a Christian, felt led by God to go ahead with the war. I see him as a tyrant as he has caused suffering for tens of thousands of civilians and also for the men and women who have to fight on his behalf and the families who have lost their children. There are Muslims who consider this a holy war because of our president's rhetoric. So, no, it doesn't take an atheist to create disastrous humanitarian crises.

It marks a lack of being 'well read' as a person. To offer Atheism as the sole intent of an ideology is somewhat foolish.