Philip asked:

Is a belief invalidated by the behaviour of those who have held it? I think for example of Marxism or
Catholicism, whose adherents have perpetrated acts of great brutality: does this mean (cf. Nietzsche)
that it is not decent to be a Marxist or a Catholic?

============

It is always open to the loyal follower to respond that people who perpetrate acts of brutality in the
name of Marxism or Catholicism merely prove by their actions that they are not true believers in
Marxism or in Catholicism. In other words it is their professed belief which is invalidated by their
actions, not the belief system itself.

Nietzsche, in his attack on Christianity, and critics of Marxism inspired by Nietzsche's writings, would
argue that there are essential features of those belief systems which explain the necessity of events
such as Stalin's purges or the Spanish Inquisition. However, that argument has to be given, one
cannot simply deduce a refutation from the acknowledged facts.

(I am reminded of a footnote in Genealogy of MoralsEssay One, section 15 where Nietzsche quotes
Aquinas: 'The blessed in the kingdom of heaven will see the punishments of the damned, in order that
their bliss be more delightful for them' as evidence of the 'eternal hatred' that lies that the core of
Christian belief.)

But perhaps your point is simply that the sheer historical fact that atrocities have been committed in
their names is in itself sufficient objection to the profession of a belief in Marxism or in Catholicism. It
is not 'decent'. Not only do you spit on the graves of all those who died, but you wash your hands of
the whole affair. 'It wasn't my kind of Marxist who followed Pol Pot but the other kind.'

I myself am not convinced by this argument. Why is it, then, that the objection looks much more
convincing if one substitutes 'National Socialism'?

I am tempted to say that, unlike National Socialism, Marxism has at least a valid claim to being a
coherent philosophy, whether or not one is persuaded by Marx's arguments. Catholicism has at least
a valid claim to being a genuine religious faith. Ultimately, that may not count for a lot in the face of
the historical facts, but it counts for something.

Geoffrey Klempner