Communism and Atheism

Two weeks ago, I became an American; the whole 9 yards. I had my oath ceremony in the courthouse in downtown Columbus. It is interesting that an Indian Indian from India became an Indian American in a city named after the dude who lost his way to find the new world and ended up calling the native people 'Indian'. But I digress, which I often do. Coming back to 'becoming an American', I went through the regular process of H1-B followed by more than 5 years of being a 'Resident Alien', followed by a very short process of Naturalization.

The Naturalization forms ask the candidate multiple times if s/he is a communist or is affiliated to a communist organization. I wonder what happens if any candidate says yes. I said no. I truly believe that communism -- though to some people is idealistic and promising in theory -- doesn't work period. History has shown us that.

What intrigues me is the assumed connection between Communism and Atheism. I have observed that in the American media all communists are referred to as atheists. They might as well be, but I don't see the inherent relation between the two, if any.

It would be interesting to see if the doctrine of Communism preaches Atheism. If it does, I wonder why? May be the 'founders' of Communism thought that opening the gates of religion would cause people to believe in their own concept of GOD, creating as many definitions of GOD as Communists and there goes the tenet 'Everyone is equal'. At least that is my uneducated take on this.

The U.S. Government has decided to honor The Dalai Lama with the Congressional Gold Medal. That is the highest civilian honor in this country. China created a lot of fuss about it. The Chinese government said that this lone act would cause a major rift between Sino-US relations. That's quite an objection. This story was amply covered by the NPR. One of the reporters was in China and she was interviewing average Chinese Joes and Janes about what they think. The average person was scared to talk about the Dalai Lama. At one point the reporter said that the Chinese police came over and detained her on the street for a bit before letting her go. She also said that if you join the Communist Party in China you have to be an Atheist.

It must be really frustrating to not have the freedom to express your views. Did someone say 'Tiananmen Square'?

In ending I want to write my favorite anecdote about The Dalai Lama. It also features Carl Sagan, a person whom I really respect.

Carl Sagan was a well known evangelist of Science and was a well known agnostic and very skeptical about Religion and GOD. Whenever he met with high profile religious leaders he used to fancy asking them challenging questions about their faith. When he met The Dalai Lama, Carl Sagan asked him "What would happen to your religion if one of its tenets is proven to be false?" and The Dalai Lama replied "Then Tibetan Buddhism will have to change". Amazed and Impressed by the calm answer Sagan prodded further and asked "Even if it is the central tenet of reincarnation?"; and The Dalai Lama replied "Yes! But it is going to be very hard to disprove reincarnation!".