Why do atheists not accept that it is the secular world which causes evil to happen?

Eric_PK

Well, it’s pretty simple.

Evil, at least as I would define it, is either individual evil – that of a murderer, perhaps – or group evil – that of a state or other organization.

I do think that some individuals are sociopaths and need to be locked up, though I think there are things that society can do to reduce the number of sociopaths that are created.

As for group evil, if you look through history, to commit a group evil – and by that I mean “harm to others” – you need to create an “us vs them” mentality.

So, you need “we are moral, they are immoral” – or, better still, inhumuman.

The best divisions are persistent ones. If I argue that “they” are inhuman because they are stupid, that’s something that can be disproven. Similarly, if I argue that they are arming to attack me, that can also be disproven.

So, I want a division that will stand the test of time, and the traditional choices are religion and nationalism.

Religion is especially nice because most religions have a “we are right, they are wrong” theme already built into them, as you demonstrate by equating “secular” with “evil”.

Historically, it’s usually both religion and nationalism that’s used. The Nazis used both. The crusades used both, though in that case they are both associated with the church rather than a state.

The soviets stuck more strongly with nationalism and didn’t really use the religious side. That’s partly because they wanted to be different from the west and partly because at the time they took over, the churches were one of the few challenges to their power and outlawing them removed that threat.

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RTambree

In fact, it is the secular world (e.g. Scandinavian countries) where standards of living are highest, where women have the greatest equality and political power, where the poor are looked after, where the environment is the cleanest, where the government is the most caring, and where longevity, health care, and quality of education is at the highest.

It is religious countries that are more violent and have poor social outcomes for their peoples.

Religion has a two thousand year history of violence, cruelty and corruption. The Crusade wars, the torture under the Spanish inquisition, the sale of indulgences, the repression of women, the repression of science, the repression of homosexuals and Jews, etc.

Atheists often wonder why it is the religious that object to the display of nudity and adult consensual lovemaking in films, but sadistic acts of violence are permitted. The most religious mainstream film of recent times, the Passion of Christ, is also one of the most violent.

It’s been famously quipped that atheists don’t believe in God but follow him, more than theists, who believe in God, but don’t follow him. Why else would so many powerful Christians and Muslims today be pro-war?

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