How would an atheist convince a serial killer not to be a serial killer?

[Rev. Rye]

Arthur Schopenhauer had a dead-on rebuttal to this dilemma:

If a man feels tempted to commit a crime, you may rely upon it that the first consideration which enters his head is the penalty appointed for it, and the chances that it will fall upon him: then comes, as a second consideration, the risk to his reputation. If I am not mistaken, he will ruminate by the hour on these two impediments, before he ever takes a thought of religious considerations. If he gets safely over those two first bulwarks against crime, I think religion alone will very rarely hold him back from it.

I’d probably add conscience as a third thing, but this doesn’t really change the larger point. Once you get past the hurdles of Earthly punishment, reputation, and conscience, the threat of hot pokers up your ass for all eternity doesn’t really seem to shift the needle.