If everyone was atheist

[ComradeMeow]

Being an atheist is incredibly broad and does not offer much besides a lack of belief in god. What is best described as atheism is naturalism and yes the world would be a better place if everyone held to the reality of the world we have. Although there would still be competing ideologies that can lead to violence.
For example the Communism vs Capitalism vs Religion vs Imperialism. This led to one of the most bloodiest conflicts in modern history. People don't need religion to fight over something although removing it may possibly mean less to fight over.
I personally like the aspects of religion and mythos but we must come to understand they have their place in the intellectual mind. They are not real, they are but descriptive devices born out of our instinctual habit to anthropomophicize our environment.

[Excited Penguin]

Are you kidding me?! That would be utopia, literally.
People don't reject religion only to get back in some other crazy dogma. They become better versions of themselves.
But that dream is still far off.

What about religion though? Imagine if there was no atheism or free minded predilections at all. Actually, you know what, don't imagine anything, just open any history book and read.

[ComradeMeow]

Are you kidding me?! That would be utopia, literally.
People don't reject religion only to get back in some other crazy dogma. They become better versions of themselves.
But that dream is still far off.

What about religion though? Imagine if there was no atheism or free minded predilections at all. Actually, you know what, don't imagine anything, just open any history book and read.

You seriously are ignoring history. Communists (which I am one I should add) rejected religion and where strong atheists yet their misguided notions led them to kill others in the name of Socialist progression. They killed over a secular ideology. People kill each other for many reasons and religion is not exactly one of the major ones. Politics always has ways of creating wars more than religion

[Napoléon]

You seriously are ignoring history. Communists (which I am one I should add) rejected religion and where strong atheists yet their misguided notions led them to kill others in the name of Socialist progression. They killed over a secular ideology. People kill each other for many reasons and religion is not exactly one of the major ones. Politics always has ways of creating wars more than religion

This is bullshit.

The vast majority of people in Communist Russia (which I assume you refer to) were actually still Orthodox Christians. And the problems that occurred within Communist regimes had precisely fuck all to do with atheism, and more to do with a fucked up version of a political ideology. Namely Leninism and Marxism. Last I checked atheism wasn't a political ideology.

Also, the very fact that much of this was allowed to happen was because of the monopoly and control that religion had in the first place. You're kidding yourself if you think religion isn't used as a political tool. Muslims could become communist party members in the USSR but Orthodox christians could not. If this were down to a purely 'secular' ideology, do you think this would be the case?

[ReptilianPeon]

Muslims could become communist party members in the USSR but Orthodox christians could not. If this were down to a purely 'secular' ideology, do you think this would be the case?

This is interesting. Where can I find out more about this? I never knew the CCCP had such a restriction.

In regard to Communism being 'fucked-up' I would say Capitalism is equally as 'fucked up' because in the West people live off of the Third World. They have to in order to maintain their standard of living. The Capitalist economy would collapse if didn't have a huge supply of cheap labour. The poor suffer just as much, if not more, because of Capitalism.

Neither system is perfect. Even the Sharia, supposedly from Allah, has its flaws. The Ottoman Caliphate relied on slavery to sustain itself. Even today, IS is using slaves. In Muhammad's day there were no fire stations, hospitals or waste management facilities so, naturally, such costs have not been factored in when Sharia was first devised. If it wasn't for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk then Turkey would be this very backwards country, probably akin to Saudi Arabia today.

[ComradeMeow]

You seriously are ignoring history. Communists (which I am one I should add) rejected religion and where strong atheists yet their misguided notions led them to kill others in the name of Socialist progression. They killed over a secular ideology. People kill each other for many reasons and religion is not exactly one of the major ones. Politics always has ways of creating wars more than religion

This is bullshit.

The vast majority of people in Communist Russia (which I assume you refer to) were actually still Orthodox Christians. And the problems that occurred within Communist regimes had precisely fuck all to do with atheism, and more to do with a fucked up version of a political ideology. Namely Leninism and Marxism. Last I checked atheism wasn't a political ideology.

Also, the very fact that much of this was allowed to happen was because of the monopoly and control that religion had in the first place. You're kidding yourself if you think religion isn't used as a political tool. Muslims could become communist party members in the USSR but Orthodox christians could not. If this were down to a purely 'secular' ideology, do you think this would be the case?

You do realize you are supporting my statement. I specifically said that without religion people can still fight over another ideology. Another ideology can create just as much conflict as religion without being religious based. You are essentially arguing my points.
Did you seriously not read anything I wrote bro?

[Napoléon]

This is interesting. Where can I find out more about this? I never knew the CCCP had such a restriction.

I read about it here:

http://classroom.synonym.com/happened-re...-8352.html

The USSR needed the support of the Middle East in its larger battle against Western capitalism, and feared alienating Muslim nations by being too heavy-handed in its treatment of its own Muslim population in southern Russia. As a result, although the practice of Islam was controlled, Muslims could become members of the Communist Party while their Orthodox counterparts could not.

But I know Islam was treated a lot differently than Christianity by the Russians:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_the_Soviet_Union

In regard to Communism being 'fucked-up' I would say Capitalism is equally as 'fucked up' because in the West people live off of the Third World. They have to in order to maintain their standard of living. The Capitalist economy would collapse if didn't have a huge supply of cheap labour. The poor suffer just as much, if not more, because of Capitalism.

I don't disagree but I don't see what this has to do with OP's question and how atheism plays into it.

Communism itself isn't inherently a bad political system. Secularism can be, and in my opinion, really is a great thing. What you saw in Marxist-Leninist Russia was the most twisted version of these two things, but in the discussion about religion vs atheism, one of these plays a direct part in politics, the other just plain can't because of what it is. I'll let you decide which is which.

[Napoléon]

You do realize you are supporting my statement. I specifically said that without religion people can still fight over another ideology. Another ideology can create just as much conflict as religion without being religious based. You are essentially arguing my points.
Did you seriously not read anything I wrote bro?

You said:

People kill each other for many reasons and religion is not exactly one of the major ones.

I said:

the very fact that much of this was allowed to happen was because of the monopoly and control that religion had in the first place. You're kidding yourself if you think religion isn't used as a political tool. Muslims could become communist party members in the USSR but Orthodox christians could not. If this were down to a purely 'secular' ideology, do you think this would be the case?

You seemed to be suggesting that religion plays as minimal part in political ideologies as atheism does. That's what I'm calling bullshit on.

[ComradeMeow]

You do realize you are supporting my statement. I specifically said that without religion people can still fight over another ideology. Another ideology can create just as much conflict as religion without being religious based. You are essentially arguing my points.
Did you seriously not read anything I wrote bro?

You said:

People kill each other for many reasons and religion is not exactly one of the major ones.

I said:

the very fact that much of this was allowed to happen was because of the monopoly and control that religion had in the first place. You're kidding yourself if you think religion isn't used as a political tool. Muslims could become communist party members in the USSR but Orthodox christians could not. If this were down to a purely 'secular' ideology, do you think this would be the case?

You seemed to be suggesting that religion plays as minimal part in political ideologies as atheism does. That's what I'm calling bullshit on.

I never addressed the role of religion in politics at all. I just merely said that you can have non religious ideologues to fight over and Socialist Revolution is one such example that has had violence on it.

[ReptilianPeon]

Clearly, because many religions considered themselves superior (even if some of their adherents don't) to other religions and that many religions want to expand, religion is obviously more dangerous than Atheism. If everyone was Atheist then I'd be happy because they'd no longer be silly restrictions on what scientists can study or who can marry. I think there would be a lot less intolerance in society. I think PEW Research did a study on religious tolerance by country by I can't seem to find it. From what I remember, India, as with many Muhammadan countries, was quite an intolerant country whereas China (PRC) was not.