Felt like posting, so blah.

There's this pervasive meme that infamous dictators such as Stalin - or, if one is particularly ignorant of history, Hitler - did their deeds in the name of "atheism." I've never quite understood this, as one does not typically act in accordance with their non-belief. It's roughly equivalent to saying the pope's disinclination to bring the abusive pedophiles in his flock to justice follows from his non-belief in Russel's teapot. In other words, no, the pope is an immoral bastard because he is... an immoral bastard; it has nothing to do with his faith, or lack thereof. Likewise, Stalin, who also had a bitchin' 'stache, but likely did not employ the use of gulags due to his hatred of shaving.

All that an atheist necessarily has in common with another atheist is his or her lack of belief in gods. That's all it means. It is a very specific term for a very specific subset of beliefs.

It occurred to me, however, that this line comes from the mind of a person who cannot separate their faith from their actions; they genuinely believe that all that's stopping them from committing murder, rape, theft, etc. is their belief in an afterlife. Their morals do not stem from community and rational thought, they stem from blind allegiance to the flock. I would submit that this is far more troubling than an atheist who admits that he is of the default position on godly matters and has trusted his reason to grant him a set of rules that, more or less, allows him to live relatively harmoniously with others. I suppose I would, though, given I'm not a disingenuous prat.