Atheism - less war?

[Jackalope]

Yes - which spread atheism using violent means...

Let me spell this out for you. Stalin did not like political competition. Stalin did not want to share power. The church was a political competitor. Stalin did not want to share power with the church.

I doubt very seriously that Stalin gave a flying fuck about what people really believed as long as they didn't present themselves as a threat to his power (same as any other power-monger, religious or not).