(November 19, 2013 at 11:06 pm)Lion IRC Wrote: Are they inherently more 'peaceful' as human beings than Christians?This wasn't directed to me, but I want to comment. I have known many atheists in my life (although not as many as Christians-duh). I have known smart and dumb atheists, nice and mean atheists, sane and insane atheists, and peaceful and violent atheists. I don't know if atheists are "more peaceful" or "less violent" as individuals. Mao and Stalin adhered to regimes as crazy and dogmatic as theism, and it's pretty far-out to say the violence in those regimes was perpetrated BECAUSE of atheism in the same way that say, the violence in the Inquisition was perpetrated because of religion (although much of that was political, too). I don't think that, on an individual level, it's fair to say that atheists are more peaceful.
I agree with Sam Harris in this quote:
I know of no society in human history that ever suffered because its people became too desirous of evidence in support of their core beliefs.
