Are you really saying that if the violent dictators had been religious, they wouldn't have committed those atrocities?
Not at all. I'm saying that if they were religious they would have a standard of right and wrong they would have to adhere to and a higher power to answer to. Anything goes in an atheistic totalitarian state. There's lots of stuff that (for an example of a religious dictatorship) Iran's regime could not do without facing severe backlash from the rest of their country, such as supporting gay marriage or saying that women should be able to vote, own property, choose their own husband, etc. They would literally be overwhelmed by the other Muslims in their country and quickly overthrown because the religion instilled in the population gives the populace a very fierce sense of determination. This is pretty much what happened in Libya when Qaddafi got overthrown.
In an Atheistic country, the people, if they are not religious, have very little to hope for in fighting back, especially since the government can do whatever it wants in response. A highly religious populace combined with a religious government helps regulate the government and keep it from becoming all-powerful, because ultimately the people devote their allegiance to their religion rather than the state, and they have a hope and a reason to fight and overthrow it if it steps out of line. As pointed out earlier in this thread, that's a huge reason why communist dictatorships do everything in their power to silence and stomp out religion, because it threatens their arbitrary totalitarian rule. That's also why they establish their leaders and states as gods themselves, because if they can get the people to fall in love with their government, they will be less likely to revolt no matter what the government does.
Do you blame Christianity for every atrocity committed by Western Europe and the US from colonization to eradication of locals to slavery to modern war crimes, too?
No, because those atrocities are not consistent with Christian teachings. In Atheism, there's nothing absolutely wrong with murdering tons of people, because there is no such thing as right and wrong. Morality is whatever you want it to be.
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