Pol Pot (19 May 1925 – 15 April 1998), born Saloth Sar Pol Pot.
What about Pol Pot?
Pol Pot never announced or wrote that he was an Atheist.
Truly a monster, having killed some twenty-five percent of the entire population of Cambodia. Pol Pot targeted not just different religions, but education, science and medicine in his quest for total domination. Now, let’s take a head count of atheists who are against education, science and medicine. Thought so…
Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge were composed of Buddhists and Pol Pot was a Theravada Buddhist. He studied at a Buddhist monastery and then at a Catholic school for 8 years.
Pol Pot (1925-1998) tried to erase individuality as he thought that differences create conflicts. With his artificial equality, abolishing private possessions and so erasing natural selection from society he was doomed by Evolution to fail, like all other communists. Pol Pot targeted not just different religions as differences, but education, science and medicine too. Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge were composed of Buddhists and Pol Pot himself was a communist and Theravada Buddhist.
Cambodia’s communism was influenced by Theravada Buddhism and its teaching to renunciation of the material world.
Before Pol Pot came into power, 95% of the population declared themselves Buddhists. According to CIA (1998 census in Cambodia), this number is almost the same and after Pol Pot’s rule (Buddhist 96.4%, Muslim 2.1%, other 1.3%, unspecified 0.2%). Cambodia was and is very religious country.
Pol Pot moved to France to study radio electronics, where he won a scholarship in 1949 to study radio electronics in Paris.
Pol Pot’s Education:
1934 – 1935 Buddhist monastery Wat Botum Vaddei in Phnom Penh
1935 – 1943 Catholic school in Phnom Penh École Miche
1943 – 1947 Collège Preah Sihanouk at Kampong Cham
1947 – 1948 Lycée Sisowath in Phnom Penh
1948 – 1949 Technical school in Phnom Penh
1949 – 1952 École Francaise de radio-électricité
The only evidence that christians use to say that Pol Pot was Atheist is this claimed quote:
Prince Norodom Sihanouk said, “Pol Pot does not believe in God but he thinks that heaven, destiny, wants him to guide Cambodia in the way he thinks it the best for Cambodia, that is to say, the worst. Pol Pot is mad, you know, like Hitler.”
Atheists believe in heaven?
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/cambodia/thestory.html
~Mao Zedong (also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung) (1893-1976)
While Mao Zedong never announced or specifically wrote that he was an Atheist but in:
The Writings of Mao Zedong, 1949-1976: January 1956-December 1957 By Zedong Mao, Michael Y. M. Kau, John K. Leung (October-december 1957 / 791 page)
We find:
“Atheism must take the place of belief in a God.”
As you will see, he was very conflicted in his theist and secular views.
Although China is a socialist country, Buddhism is protected according to national policy. The late Chairman Mao Zedong said when he received delegations from Peru in 1964 that:
“it is wrong to tell people to be against religion.”
“religious people would oppose us… believing in a certain religion doesn’t mean people don’t oppose imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism.”
Chinese political leader, poet and statesman, founder of People’s Republic of China. Mao Zedong’s ideas varied between flexible pragmatism and Utopian visions, exemplified in the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. His literary production contains mainly speeches, essays and poems. Mao published some 40 poems written in classical tradition with political message. Worshiped by millions, Mao is also considered one of the 20th century most brutal dictators. It has been estimated that he was responsible for well over 70 million deaths.
Mao was born into a wealthy administrative family of devout Buddhists, in the village of Shaoshan in the Hunan Province of China. At the age of six he began to work on his parents’ farm. His father, Mao Jen-sheng, was a peasant farmer, who beat his sons regularly.
Mao’s mother, Wen Chi-mei, was a devout Buddhist and became even more devout to encourage Buddha to protect him. Following his mother’s example, Mao also became a practicing Buddhist from an early age, venerating a bronze statue of the Buddha which was in their home, but abandoned this faith in his mid-teenage years.
High positions were open to all through education, which for centuries meant studying Confucian classics. Mao was taught the value systems of Confucianism, one of the dominant moral ideologies in China, but he would later admit that he did not enjoy reading the classical Chinese texts which preached Confucian morals, instead favoring popular novels such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin. Though Confucianism emphasized submission to authorities and bureaucratic centralization, he became hostile to the philosophy, which he saw as the central ideology of China’s past. Reacting against his Confucian upbringing, aged 11 Mao ran away from home, heading for what he believed was a nearby town, but eventually his father found him and brought him home.
Mao Zedong was afforded the rare luxury for the majority of Chinese at the time to a formal Western and Eastern schooling education at Changsha, capital of the Hunan province.
After graduating from a teacher’s training in Changsha, Mao continued his studies at the University of Beijing, where he worked as an assistant at the library. During this period he discovered Marx, but also began to hate books and all things highly cultivated. Under the influence of Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu, China’s first major Marxist figures, Mao turned to Marxism.
“Tibetan Buddhism: Sacred traditions have down-to-earth side”
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6610660.html
The following quotes are from: “Behind the bamboo curtain: China, Vietnam, and the world beyond Asia” By Priscilla Mary Roberts. Mao Zedong and Pham Van Dong, Beijing, November 17, 1968
Pham Van Dong: How are you, Chairman Mao?
Mao Zedong: Not very well. I have had a cough for some days. It is time to go to Heaven. It seems that I am summoned to meet the Good God. How is President Ho?
~Taoism and Mao Zedong
Mao’s thought is far away from Marxism or Confucianism but close to Taoism.
Chuang Tzu was one of Mao’s favorite books and Li Po, a Taoist, was his favorite poet. Chuang Tzu’s carefree boundless style was also seen in Mao’s speeches and writings. Li Po’s romantic unconstrained style was also seen in Mao’s poetry.
Yin and Yang are important concepts of Taoism, seeing the opposite complementary forces inside all things and entities which lead everything to change toward its opposite: The weak becomes strong, and the strong becomes weak. That’s what it means in Chapter 40, Tao Te Ching:
That which is converse is the action of Tao;
That which is weak is the use of Tao.
Tao Te Ching is short but elaborates this Yin/Yang principle repeatedly in different verses. By different names such as two point or two side methods or dialectics, this Taoist principle became Mao’s favorite topic and appears everywhere in his works and speeches. This principle of course also applies to Mao himself: Such a glorious revolutionary life and such a super powerful figure ended his days in his isolated bedroom observing the keenly impatient desire of his colleagues to see his death. His voice was so a weak and tiny whisper when he begged, would you please lift your lordly hands and let them go after my death! The Chinese official interpretation says the word “them” in those Mao’s words refers to the rebels who reached high positions through the Cultural Revolution. From the context and circumstances, it is crystal clear that Mao worried about his wife and her friends, the Gang of Four. Did they let them go? No, and they didn't Fifteen years after Mao’s death, people celebrated again over the death of Mao’s wife who committed suicide in prison.
http://taoism21cen.com/Englishchat/maoandtaoism.html
Mao’s god-like status:
During the Cultural Revolution, Mao elevated himself to god-like status, as though all that was good in China came from Mao. The people granted Mao a god-like status, celebrating his every achievement, remembering every little detail of his life, as well as creating mythical circumstances surrounding his life. Even today, many Chinese people regard Mao as a God-like figure, who led the ailing China onto the path of an independent and powerful nation, whose pictures can expel the evil spirit and bad luck.
Pictures of Chairman Mao used to grace every building in China and school children sang hymns of praise to him every morning. Today, Chinese drivers often hang a picture of Mao from their rearview mirrors. It’s believed to ward off car accidents.
Personality cult of Mao
http://library.thinkquest.org/26469/cultural-revolution/cult.html
Maoism
http://library.thinkquest.org/26469/cultural-revolution/maoism.html
Maoism
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Maoism
The following is from:
http://www.freethoughtpedia.com/wiki/Was_Mao_Zedong_an_atheist%3F
Was Mao Zedong an atheist?
Note: Using the argument that Mao’s belief in God caused him to do these things is WRONG. And one should be highly skeptical regarding Mao’s definition of God and if he even believed in God in the first place. Suffice to say, there is evidence that goes both ways, in terms of justifying a claim that Mao did believe in gods and also that he embraced secular ideals. However, there is absolutely no causal relationship between any atheist position and any antisocial, oppressive activities.
“Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting the progress of the arts and the sciences and a flourishing socialist culture in our land." – Mao Tse-tung, Quotations of Chairman Mao Speech (1966), quoted from Encarta Book of Quotations (1999)
The Poems of Mao Tse-tung
All of the below quotes are taken from: Mao Tse-tung (1893 - 1976) Source: The Poems of Mao Tse-tung, Harper & Row
Winds flap the sail, tortoise and snake are silent, a great plan looms. A bridge will fly over this moat dug by HEAVEN and be a road from north to south. We will make a stone wall against the upper river to the west and hold back steamy clouds and rain of Wu peaks. Over tall chasms will be a calm lake, and if the GODDESS of these mountains is not dead she will marvel at the changed world.[1]
The GODS on the death of his wife Yang Kai-hui I lost my proud poplar and you your willow As poplar and willow they soar straight up into the ninth heaven and ask the prisoner of the moon, Wu Kang’ what is there. He offers them wine from the cassia tree. The lonely lady on the moon, Chang 0, spreads her vast sleeves and dances for these good SOULS in the unending sky. Down on earth a sudden report of the tiger’s defeat. Tears fly down from a great upturned bowl of rain.[2]
Saying Good-bye to the GOD of Disease (2) Thousands of willow branches in a spring wind. Six hundred million of China, land of the GODS, and exemplary like the emperors Shun and Yao. A scarlet rain of peach blossoms turned into waves and emerald mountains into bridges. Summits touch the sky. We dig with silver shovels and iron arms shake the earth and the Three Rivers. GOD of plagues, where are you going? We burn paper boats and bright candles to light his way to HEAVEN.[3]
Saying Good-bye to the GOD of Disease (1) Mauve waters and green mountains are nothing when the great ancient doctor Hua To could not defeat a tiny worm. A thousand villages collapsed, were choked with weeds, men were lost arrows. GHOSTS sang in the doorway of a few desolate houses. Yet now in a day we leap around the earth or explore a thousand Milky Ways. And if the cowherd who lives on a star asks about the GOD of plagues, tell him, happy or sad, the GOD is gone, washed away in the waters.[4]
Little red book
The below is taken from "Self-Reliance and Arduous Struggle chapter 21”:
There is an ancient Chinese fable called “The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains”. It tells of an old man who lived in northern China long, long ago and was known as the Foolish Old Man of North Mountain. His house faced south and beyond his doorway stood the two great peaks, Taihang and Wangwu, obstructing the way. With great determination, he led his sons in digging up these mountains hoe in hand. Another graybeard, known as the Wise Old Man, saw them and said derisively, “How silly of you to do this! It is quite impossible for you few to dig up these two huge mountains.” The Foolish Old Man replied, “When I die, my sons will carry on; when they die, there will be my grandsons, and then their sons and grandsons, and so on to infinity. High as they are, the mountains cannot grow any higher and with every bit we dig, they will be that much lower. Why can’t we clear them away?” Having refuted the Wise Old Man’s wrong view, he went on digging every day, unshaken in his conviction. This moved GOD, and he sent down two angels, who carried the mountains away on their backs. Today, two big mountains lie like a dead weight on the Chinese people. One is imperialism and the other is feudalism. The Chinese Communist Party has long made up its mind to dig them up. We must persevere and work unceasingly, and we, too, will touch GOD’s heart. Our GOD is none other than the masses of the Chinese people. If they stand up and dig together with us, why can’t these two mountains be cleared away? [5]
the Tao of Mao
There is some suggestion that Mao was at least influenced by Taoism: [6]
Some of Mao’s quotes also represent a kind of Taoist thinking such as “We should support whatever the enemy opposes and oppose whatever the enemy supports”
References
- . The Poems of Mao Tse-tung, Harper & Row June 1956
- . The Poems of Mao Tse-tung, Harper & Row May 11, 1957
- . The Poems of Mao Tse-tung, Harper & Row July I, 1958
- . The Poems of Mao Tse-tung, Harper & Row July 1, 1958
- . "The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains" (June 11, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 322.
- . http://taoism21cen.com/Englishchat/essay4.html
~Different perspectives:
VIDEO: Sidney Rittenberg: Chairman Mao’s favourite American
His verdict on Mao now? “He was a great historical leader and a great historical criminal - very few have reached this status in both of those aspects.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13974472
Mao Zedong: Hero and Villain
Combine a champion of the poor, a visionary leader, a cult hero, a misguided social engineer, a blind ideologue, and a brutal tyrant. What do you get? Mao Zedong was all of these and more.
Mao Zedong, the communist revolutionary and founder of the People’s Republic of China, is both loved and loathed in the country he helped build. Some speak his name with respect, even reverence, others with bitterness and hatred.
One newspaper proclaimed: “Chairman Mao is the red sun in our hearts.” He was heralded as Great Teacher, Great Leader, Great Supreme Commander, and Great Helmsman. His portrait adorned many public places. His political and social ideas and observations were everywhere, showcased in red letters. In short, Mao was China and China was Mao.
Much of Mao’s thinking is collected in a small red volume known by westerners as the “Little Red Book” or the “Book of Mao.” The book has 427 quotations, divided thematically into 33 chapters.
http://www.minnesota-china.com/education/emgov/mao.htm
~See our related blogs:
Adolf Hitler was a christian Nazi who murdered 5.9 MILLION jews to avenge a christian lie about the imaginary jesus who is an evidenceless fraud and christian fabricated god!
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin were christians!
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