Why do you worry about religious evil doers and not atheist evil doers as well?

It’s difficult to take this question terribly seriously as it demonstrates a level of ignorance which ultimately only lessens the conversation. The simple answer, though, is I worry about all evil doers regardless of race, political affiliation, ideology, belief system, colour or creed. Any wanton disregard for social cohesion and the common good should attract the criticism and objections of sane individuals.  It’s a colossal failure in definition, however, to draw an association between religious and atheist evil doers, and to demonstrate this one need only pose a simple question: name a single individual in all of human history who has killed (or indeed perpetrated any heinous act) in the name of atheism?

Atheism (the absence of belief in the gods) is a justification for nothing. It motivates no action except for perhaps the rational rebuttal to unjustified religious interference in the day-to-day operation of our secular societies. It generally proceeds no further than that. Humanism, atheisms more socially organised brother, is pacifist by its very nature; espousing the wonder of life, scientific progress, education, justice, and the overall betterment of the human condition free of the ludicrous threat of magical bugaboos. No battle flags have ever been raised for atheism or humanism, and no person has ever lifted a gun and blown out the back of a child’s head because they wanted society to be more reasonable and rational. Religion, on the other hand, inspires and justifies abnormal behaviour, and no one has articulated this truism better than Steven Weinberg when he said:

 “Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.”

Anyone curious enough need only open a book to see that from the moment it could Christianity alone has aroused, abetted, facilitated, justified and cheered on some of the most sickening events in all of human history. From the Christian purges of pagans starting in 315 CE to Anglican and Catholic collusion and participation in the massacre of Tutsi’s in Rwandan, 1996, the “Holy Church” in all its many guises has orchestrated murder with sanctified industrial efficiency, and where the name of “god” was not directly invoked the necessity for religion was; as exampled by Adolf Hitler who stated on the 26^th of April, 1933:

 “Secular schools can never be tolerated because such a school has no religious instruction and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith…. We need believing people.”

A “believing people” means, in short, persuadable people who’re easily coerced to do things which contravene the greater good. That is to say, individuals who are susceptible to persuasion and are conditioned by their faith to override their natural moral compass which in-turn enables them to rationalise evil by deferring responsibility of those actions onto to some external (supernal) master plan. Religion, therefore, is an excuse for evil, and it’s been used as such since its inception.

And so again, I’ll answer the question by asking the simple question: name a single individual in all of human history who has killed or perpetrated any evil in the name of atheism?