(10-10-2017 02:16 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 01:53 PM)miko33 Wrote:  

(10-10-2017 01:47 PM)umbluegray Wrote:  

(10-07-2017 12:23 AM)stinkfist Wrote:  I could easily argue religion has caused more strife and suffering throughout humanity than any concept of non-belief....

You could, but it'd be countered with the millions upon millions of lives murdered by world leaders who were atheists.

Can you name them?

Lenin
Stalin
Mao
Pol Pot
Mussolini
Slobodon Milosevic

While it's debatable how much each of these leaders were truly atheist (Stalin studied to be a priest, Pol Pot discussed karma like he was a Buddhist, etc), even with the point conceded that all of these guys were true blue atheists, there is at least a reasonable chance to estimate the amount of murder they committed.

Contrast that with the thousands of years of killing in the name of religion...I think the numbers would not be in favor of religion.

The only reason why Christians and Muslims did not kill more people during the middle ages is simple: they lacked the technology that the people in your list had access to. That is why this is such a fallacious argument. If person A had 5 million people killed while person B had 10 million deaths on his/her hands...it does not mean that person B is twice as evil as person A.