Reply #52: I remember when it was their very lack of religion that was the danger

[daleo]

The argument was as follows:

Marxists didn't believe in God or the afterlife, just the historical inevitability and desirability of world revolution. Therefore, individual people were expendable to the committed communist leadership, if their destruction moved the historical process forward and resulted in the greater good of the communist order. No fear of God's retribution would still their hand on the nuclear button, so to speak.

There was a time when religious fanatics were thought to be much preferable to communists, because they believed in God just as "we" do - that's why Reagan got the arms and money to support the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan, for example.

I am just saying that all of these arguments can be lifted from one context to another, essentially unchanged. That tells me they aren't very good arguments i.e. they have propaganda value rather than explanatory value.