If You Thought Religion was a Bad Idea … Check Out Atheism

Kirk Durston

June, 2012

 In a 2012 interview with Esquire, Ridley Scott, director of the movie Prometheus, stated that ‘the biggest source of evil is, of course, religion.’ This seems to be the trendy thing to say nowadays, but is it true? Has anyone actually looked into this? What kind of track record does atheism have when we compare it with, say, Christianity?

Rudolph Rummel, former professor of political science at the University of Hawaii and 2007 winner of the International Association of Genocide Scholars’ Award for Distinguished Lifetime Contribution to the Field of Genocide and Democide Studies and Prevention, and frequently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, has done an enormous amount of research in the area of mass killing. What does his research show when we compare Christianity with atheism?

This article should by no means be understood as an attack against, or defence of, individuals who identify themselves as atheists or Christians. There are many atheists who live good, upstanding lives thanks to their God-given moral intuitions. There are also many self-professed Christians who live despicable lives. The objective of this article is compare authentic Christianity with the track record of atheistic societies to see which is a greater force for good or evil, and why this may be so.