what's wrong with atheism or belief in evolution or darwinism??? nothing. in fact i find those people esp NTF who suddenly embraced religions when they are dying is due to the fact that they are afraid of their past and karma befalling them for all the past sins and crimes they did when young hence the sudden conversions esp in Xtians. the sheer folly and psychological con job perpetrated by the church on the weak and dying(who are psychologically vulnerable). like they said offer a drowning man a twig and he would clutch at any straws . Most religions prey on the weak minded and those most vulnerable. How low can you get!!!!!
Dictators and despots come in all stripes and persuasions; religion or the lack thereof is a moot point. Hitler was raised a devout Catholic, as were Mugabe and Mussolini. Stalin was a self-professed atheist although his parents observed the Orthodox customs. LKY was an agnostic, though like many agnostics he wasn't averse to some providential assistance, e.g.
fengshui advice from the chief abbott and some end-of-life penitential peace from Maranatha meditation.
Long and short of it is, religion/spirituality has no hold on tyrants. What floats their boat is power, absolute power, and everything else can be sacrificed to this end.
Having said that, people of religion have been responsible for the vast majority of the violent deaths in human history. Christians have killed more people in the past two millennia than all the other religions combined. Some of the world's worst pogroms and genocides have been perpetrated by the Christians. And the carnage continues today, mostly in conflicts involving the Abrahamic religions in the Middle East and their proxy wars elsewhere.
So, you do have a point. The atheists and agnostics do come out smelling of roses when viewed in the context of humanity's immense history of bloodletting and violence. Some of the most humane people I've met are atheistic humanists, though, of course, I've met many decent folk of religion as well. You don't need religion to be a decent human being (though it can be argued that for some lower forms the fear of divine retribution might exact some redeeming behaviour), and while science doesn't negate religion, it can certainly flourish independently of religion.
As I said to Boss in another thread, it was the separation of Church and State that allowed the West to usher in the Age of Enlightenment and Industrialization and so leap-frog the rest of the world in social, economic and political development.
