Some interesting points raised here. Cards on the table, I'm a devout atheist. First of all I would agree that I can't think of a truly atheist country - as far as I'm aware all countries have an element of the population that believe in one form of deity or another (even communist Russia allowed Greek Orthodoxy to exist). I'm equally not sure that religion or lack of it has much of an effect on any form of crime. There are a couple of points raised that I feel need addressing:
Finding Away – You are, of course, fully entitled to this view, but to me this is the purest example of why I can’t reconcile myself to Christianity (or most other religions), that you would sacrifice your fourscore years on earth - no matter how you got here this is still the single most wonderous experience you are definitely going to have and yet you would live in abject misery in the faith of getting ‘something better afterwards’.
Carolinasteve – Poor form. As an atheist I don’t of course believe in Satan, but I do object to your view that atheists are, by definition, evil, immoral, unethical etc, etc. I do not need a fictional character to tell me how to live a ‘good’ life. If I were able to convince you that god did not exist would you immediately go out and murder someone?
Boanerges – Absolutely. But wasn’t that also the case with Puritan England? Fearful and repressive governance isn’t limited to atheism. Mussolini ruled Italy, a country within which lies the centre of the Catholic faith, but maintained a dictatorship for years.
Heart after his own - I don't believe that we need the bible, or any other religious tract, in order to live a moral or ethical life (I certainly don't). The growth of societies needs rules in order that anarchy doesn't result from a number of individuals living in close proximity. This will result in some very standard regulations being applied / accepted at an early stage - murder and theft (as extreme examples) would destroy any form of society at a very early stage if they were considered acceptable. There were large, developed societies in existence prior to the bible that would have developed these concepts in isolation, those who didn't were condemned to fail at an early stage. You may have a point that people in violent societies turn to one god or another, but places like Somalia would suggest that they're just as likely to join one violent sect or another for purposes of self-preservation rather than attempt to stand outside the norm and reject the prevailing culture.
Kevin - Hitler was a confirmed Catholic and, I understand, referred to his faith in some (although definitely not most) of his speeches. He is often held up as an example of what would happen if religion were abandoned - it's a very poor example and one that with minimal research gets thrown back in the face of those using it. I will mention Jim Jones at this point and leave it there. There probably are atheists who’ll claim that religion is at the root of all conflict, I think that’s a bit extreme – but it certainly holds its own against all other roots – possibly because it generates so much emotion and demands so much adherence, whatever the reason, denying that religion has caused a monumental amount of deaths through conflict is ridiculous and untenable and as bad as a claim that it is the only root of world conflict.
Sorry, this post is a lot longer than I originally intended, but it is the type of question that will raise a lot of points and one which I have, unintentionally, widened.
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