The atheist's dangerous delusion of moral superiority.

Going on secular/atheist blog's and websites today one can hardly ignore the growing sentiment that lacking belief in god, or believing that there is no god is conducive, in and of itself, to a more peaceful society. If only it were that simple. Unfortunately said atheists aren't all that familiar with history. They rightly claim, it would seem, that Hitler was not an atheist, but falsely attribute theistic beliefs to men like Stalin and Lenin. The fact is there is little to no evidence for such an assertion and even if it were true, it wouldn't negate the abhorrent atrocities committed by atheists against so man millions of civilians. Aha, they say, but those atheists didn't commit such atrocities because they were atheists, but because they were caught in the cult of communism where the state is worshiped with the same fervor as any god would be.

First things first, in giving this response the atheist is clearly moving the goalposts here. No longer are they claiming that atheism in and of itself is conducive to a peaceful society, but rather that atheism cannot be used as a motivation for atrocities such as those committed by the Soviet Union. But, putting that small point aside for now, the fact is this latter point is rather moot. Given some thought, its rather clear that only moral or ethical beliefs can really be motivations for committing atrocities. The Nazi's did not kill millions of Jews because they were theists, but because they thought Jews were evil, and they thought Jews were evil because they believed God (the god's?) ordained the Aryan race for world domination and made the Jews less than human. But these are all the realm of ethical/meta-ethical claims, not metaphysical claims.

Understanding this, it seems a bizarre thing to suggest that ethical beliefs, in conjunction with atheism, could not motivate immoral actions like rape or murder. Unfortunately history confirms the suspicion that this is not the case. From 1928-1941 the Soviet Union targeted clergy and members of the Russian Orthodox church, slaughtering them in the streets by the thousands and sending thousands more to labour camps. By 1942 there were only 500 Orthodox churches left intact in the entire Soviet Union. In 1937 alone 85 thousand clergymen were shot and killed. What's more, contrary to official pronouncements to the contrary, the complete dismantlement of the Russian Orthodox Church was not done for merely legal or political reasons, it was done for ideological reasons, to enforce state atheism. This was clearly seen in the propaganda of the time, which displayed religion and religious people as ignorant, sub-human, dangerous and silly. What is truly disturbing is just how similar these sentiments sound to modern atheists views of religion. 

Given these disturbing facts I would urge people of all worldviews to carefully moniter their ethical beliefs. It is far too easy for good intentions to have disastrous consequences.