Atheism can be a causal factor in atrocity

Thank you for you response Mastajake. But let me remind you that whether or not religion shares responsibility in atrocity is a subject for another debate. The question is whether atheism can contribute to atrocity. 1. "They didn't do things in the name of atheism per say a religious extremist would." Please inform me how persecuting, torturing, and killing millions of your own people in hopes of establishing a religious-free utopia is not extremism. The fact of that matter is that if Mao and Stalin were not atheists they would not have had the proclivity to systematically persecute religious followers. "it was the hate for religious domination in society that they were more against ( giving these where greedy dictators that would make sense ) more so than the doctrine of religions believing in God." It was actually a specific tenet of their atheistic communism. Perhaps the following quotes will enlighten you. These quotes are from Karl Marx (and from his successor Lenin), the creator(s) of the system Stalin and Mao sought to follow: "Communism begins where atheism begins…" (Marx) "The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion" (Marx) "Atheism is the natural and inseparable part of Communism." (Lenin) "Our program necessarily includes the propaganda of atheism." (Lenin) An early Soviet slogan said "Let us drive out the Capitalists from the earth, and God from Heaven!" Atheism is an absolutely necessary element in communism (says its proprietor and practitioners), and because of that, religion was systematically stamped out with brute force. "I almost want to propose the statement that religion is a causal factor in atrocity even more so by far than atheism. given your God supposedly ("supposedly" because I do not believe in god to start off with) killed more than Mao and Stalin Combined ~ I find this ironic" Religion's role in atrocity is not the topic. But my opponent seems to be misinformed as to the amount of people Mao and Stalin killed. The website he cited approximated 2.5 million deaths ascribed to God. However, the consensus for Stalin's red-hand is 20 million (http://en.wikipedia.org...). Stain alone killed 8 times more than the website you cited. "And crusades anyone? now lets talk about mal religious intent and atrocity. Muslim extremist driving plane into our twin towers in the name of god. there seems to be a direct link with god and their social beliefs that led to such an atrocity and there is no denying it. they willingly did this thinking that they were doing what their god had wanted them to do making there irrational decision to kill thousands easy. It is well known that the pope strongly discourages the use of condoms in Africa, calling for abstinence only. Leading to the death of countless people "600-1,000 people are thought to die every day because of Aids." This is completely irrelevant. The topic is whether atheism can be a causal factor in atrocity – not religion. Let's be realistic. Between 1917 and 2007 approximately 148 million were killed by 52 atheist leaders, that is three times more than all the human beings killed by war. (The Irrational Atheist 240). 3. "In response to your third contention. What are your sources?" http://irrationalatheist.com... "Christians make up 75% of the U.S. Prisons population ~according to federal bureau of prisons" I said Per Capita. The united states it largely Christian. Conclusion: "InquireTruth, you seem to be confused about what atheism is. Atheism is not strictly about people who criticize or hate religion, in fact, that's not the point at all." I never said that is what atheism was. I am arguing that atheism CAN be a causal factor in atrocity, which, as it stands, has yet to be refuted. Questions that need to be answered by my opponent: 1. Is it your contention that Stalin would still have systematically killed theists even if he himself was one? 2.Stalin and Mao were destroying and eliminating religion because the atheism inherent in communism called for it. If Stalin and Mao were not eliminating religion because of atheism or communism, why were they? And how did their atheism NOT contribute to this? 3. Is a 58% chance that an atheist leader will murder a noticeable percentage of the population over which he rules sufficient evidence that atheism does, in fact, proved a systematic influence to do bad things? (The Irrational Atheist 241)