CMV: Atheists are morally superior to religious people.

Atheists are often the most misunderstood people. Many religious people believe that atheists are satanic, evil, and useless to society. In contrast, religious people think of themselves as the most noble people on the planet, just because they believe in a god. I think this is utter bullshit. <br><br>I believe that atheists are morally superior to religious people, because of the following three reasons:<br><br>1. **Atheists do good things because they believe that they're doing good things. Religious people do good things because they want to go to heaven.** <br><br> * If a religious person gives $1000 to a homeless shelter, that's great. But how much of that money would they have given if they didn't believe they would be rewarded in the afterlife. We don't know. The point is, that even the best religious people have motives that are not entirely pure.<br><br> * For atheists, they do good things because they care about people. They genuinely want to help. Not because they want to get into heaven.<br><br>2. **Religious people support immoral actions. Atheists do not.**<br><br> * Muslims support the stoning of women. Christians support the execution of homosexuals. Jewish people support the oppression of Palestine. Every religion, if you go back far enough, has either supported, condoned or committed atrocities.<br><br> * Atheists, however, do not support these things. In fact, atheists are all too aware of the thousands upon thousands of deaths that have been caused in the name of religion. Atheists are more likely to be aware of science, history- and these are things that make them more rational, and hence, morally sound.<br><br>3. **The lack of religion has NEVER caused war. Only religion.** <br><br> * The middle east conflict is religious. The Crusades were religious. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is religious. 9/11 was religious. The Russian Civil War- a civil war that killed 15 MILLION people, was caused by the removal of religious influence. The Great Leap Forward, which killed 30 MILLION people was caused by the removal of religious influence. <br><br> * An absence of religion leads to rational thinking. Rational thinking leads to free thinking. Atheists, who are often labeled the most immoral people in society, are actually the ones that are best equipped to make decisions without any bias. This makes atheists far more rational, and far more moral, than religious people.<br><br>On a completely separate note, if you want to change my view, be it on this topic or any other, feel free to message me. I've been very inactive on Chambers lately, but I want to make time to have some more discussions on the topics that matter to me.<br><br>Edit: This got a lot more traction than I thought it would. Just wanted to clarify a few things that I think some people are misuderstanding. First of all, I know that every person is different. I tried to use phrases like "religious people" and "atheists" to make it clear that I was talking about general groups, not just individual people. However, I should have made it clear, because a lot of you dudes are saying "I'm religious, but I don't support [insert thing here]". I know that there are a lot of very good religious people out there, and I'm not saying you are evil. So please, spare me the angry messages. <br><br>Another clarification: when I said that the lack of religion has never caused war, I meant wars where religion was a main factor- at least one religion against another religion, rather than a religion against an absence of religion. The Russian Civil War, for example, was between the Bolsheviks and the Tsarists. Yes, the Tsarists were religious, but they were fighting the Bolsheviks, who were non-religious. The civil war was mainly between religion and an absence of religion, rather than one religion against another religion. <br><br>Finally, I just want to go ahead and say that I do understand that religion is not inherently evil. Humans are inherently evil, and when you put a new label on an old ideology, it doesn't change anything. But what I am saying is this: if you have a religious ideology, you are limiting your perspective. Your perspective is no longer free. It's like you are playing a new game, but you are only allowed to use four out of six of your abilities. And therefore, I do think that atheists are more likely to be moral, and have a more rounded view of the world.<br><br>Thanks for the awards everyone. If you're going to message me, please don't message me hate. messenger me an interesting topic for once.