I think your grasp of the characteristics of human nature is too shallow. I think you need a deeper understanding of what is going on.
Atheism exists because Christianity tamed the baser human instincts to the point where Atheism could exist. The Irony is that Atheists are floating in an Ocean of Christianity, the absence of which will result in a very different social structure, and one which will have no tolerance for Atheists. (Or much of anything else for that matter.)
And it’s not like atheists don’t have beliefs. We just don’t have RELIGIOUS beliefs. I believe in small governments, low taxes, and if you’d expect to get punched in the face for saying that to them in person you probably shouldn’t say it to them online either.
I'm not suggesting you need to have religious beliefs. I'm asserting that our society needs to have religious beliefs. If the foundation of our moral system is disrupted, it is just going to turn ugly.
I have no problems with Atheists. I have problems with Atheists that want to evangelize about Atheism. Convincing everyone that there is no God will only unleash the forces currently held at bay as the result of the widespread belief that there is.
Thomas Jefferson said:
"It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."
The Rebuttal to this is:
"Let my neighbor once persuade himself that there is no God, and he will soon pick my pocket, and break not only my leg but my neck."
And that's what I think too. Modern Atheists are only moral because they grew up in an Ocean of Christianity. If people grow up in an Ocean of Atheism, from whence will come the belief that we should love one another?
Atheists promote the scientific method for dealing with humanity, and when this played out before, we got Eugenics.
I'd rather have some irrational superstition keeping people under some semblance of control, than a scientifically induced clinical detachment allowing their inner Nazi to emerge.
No. Atheism exists because some people just aren’t into religion. Plenty of non-Christian religions have established rules for folks to live by. Plus there’s the social contract. Lots of ways to tame base human instinct. And of course in the end it’s still the PEOPLE that tame the instinct, their religion might give them some ground work, but one cruise through the televangelist hall of shame shows there’s plenty of religious people that are completely untamed.
I don’t think society does need to have religious beliefs. Again, there’s plenty of place to ground or moral system that don’t have anything to do with religion. Simple common sense does it for most folks.
I’m not evangelizing. Like I said, don’t care what you believe so long as it’s not interfering with my reality.
I’ve never bought that rebuttal. Frankly I actually find kind of scary. Basically people who use that are saying that if they ever had a crisis in faith they’d become lawless sociopaths. Do you really think your belief in God is the only thing that keeps you from stealing and murdering? I mean really, insisting people (which includes you) could not be moral without their belief in God is kind of disturbing.
No. The scientific method does NOT result in eugenics. Eugenicists use it as an excuse, but they’re lying to themselves. Somebody ACTUALLY applying the scientific method to masses of people wouldn’t tamper with it, because they understand that the only way to figure out which group of people are “better” is to let things run their course. Sure we can look at that mass and THINK we know which group is better, but we could be wrong, and if we act on that and we are wrong we’re just damaging the whole. And the scientific method tells us that if that group really is better they’ll come out on top without us screwing with things.
If irrational superstitions are the only things keeping people under control, they aren’t actually under control. Actually the Nazis were VERY superstitious. They’re a fine shining example of how religion doesn’t guarantee morality.