Look, I'm atheist too (aren't we all) but I'm not far enough into the groupthink to think that atheism can take the asshole out of people. Every group has their fundies, and pretending that atheism somehow only turns people into hipsters is disingenuous.

Moreover, at the point that people make atheism part of their identity rather than just a void absent of religion, they have created an in-group and people who can be "adherent" to it. People can do things in the name of atheism, both good and bad, once they start seeing it as us-vs-them.

Which is a little ironic, since I feel part of what makes being an atheist so nice is that we can have a little more objectivity as to what makes and breaks belief groups in general.

[-] Deceptichum@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago

No one is out there forcefully deconverting Muslims because of their belief in atheism.

Assuming you’re talking about China, they are doing to for control. They don’t want a part of their population following someone or something else except the state.

[-] Sentrovasi@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

And the Crusades were done out of a lust for more land, and sexual assault of minors were done because some priests are also pedophiles. You can't No True Scotsman this way because all of these ideologies can be used as excuses for justifying heinous actions.

It doesn't make it magically not a part of the problem, and I think that's what people have been saying about the terrible practices in religion as long as there's been this problem. It would be hypocritical and disingenuous to downplay the way that atheism and secularity has been used to justify extreme behaviour - the idea that atheism gives rise to only the nicest extremists is such a silly hill to die on.

[-] alternative_factor@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

To be fair the real atheist extremes are all bounded to countries like China, North Korea, the former soviet union, and tankies (who never go outside), so it's hard for most people to think about until they meet people from other parts of the world.

[-] dannoffs@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 1 year ago

Also "The cult of reason" during the French Revolution, and I'm not even really saying those priests didn't have it coming. I'm an atheist, but I don't really think humanity would be any less violent if religion didn't exist.

[-] alternative_factor@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

I agree, just look at what happened with the soviets.

[-] atheist@feddit.de -4 points 1 year ago

Can you give me some sources please?

[-] Yendor@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

I presume they’re talking about stuff like this:

China guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity against Uyghurs, watchdog finds

this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2023

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