[kesg]

Undoubtedly in times past there has been lots of killing and mayhem due to religion and there is to this day. But if you want to go purely on a numbers basis Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot et al have religion beat by miles and there deeds have been in the recent past, not ancient history.

I don't think that our choice is between religion and Communism (or Marxism, or socialism), but between freedom and statism -- whether the government recognizes your inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, or whether the government violates these rights to some degree by asserting ownership or control over your mind, your property, and your life. Theocracy, or religious tyranny, is merely one form of statism. Communism is another form of statism. Both forms, and many other variations, are to be distinguished from the constitutional republic that our Founding Fathers actually intended for us, a form that -- albeit imperfectly -- was based on the individual rights philosophy outlined in the Declaration of Independence.