# What difference would it make if Atheist ruled the world? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 2, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188 "2013-10-02T15:48:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/81 "2013-10-02T17:04:12Z")
> [@Mickiel](#): > > Well thank you, a reasonable response . Yet you puzzle me, in an Atheist ruled society, you are still allowing for Priest? Explain that. Why does that need explaining? Even in a highly extreme version - rather than some kind of democracy where athiest leaders have been voted in, you instead have me, Tyrant-King Revenant I, as atheist overlord - I would allow for priests. Why not? ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/82 "2013-10-02T17:04:47Z")
> [@Mickiel](#): > > Well thank you, a reasonable response . Yet you puzzle me, in an Atheist ruled society, you are still allowing for Priest? Explain that. You need to re-read that - he’s not allowing for preists - he’s saying they would have to find other things to do… there would be no need for them (as priests). ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/83 "2013-10-02T17:05:39Z")
What does “rule the world” mean? If all the presidents, prime ministers, kings etc. in the world were atheists, I doubt if it would make much difference, except in those few countries, like Iran and the Vatican, that are essentially theocracies, with political power wielded directly by people who are, in the first place, religious leaders. Most countries besides these allow a fair degree of religious freedom in practice, and I would hope (as an atheist) that atheist rulers would not do any more to actively stamp out religion than most political leaders who happen to be religious do to stamp out atheism or rival religions. If you are asking whether organizations of the general philanthropic type that you list would have been founded in a word without religion (which is a quite different matter from atheists being the rulers), I think the answer is yes. The organizations might be a different, and would certainly have different names, but atheists in general are just as motivated to do good and to try to make the world a better place as religious people are. The religious proselytizing aspect (quite large in some cases) of those organizations would not be there, but there would, on the whole, have been broadly similar organizations founded to do much the same sorts of charitable, philanthropic and socially beneficial work that they do. (I am not sure I accept that all the ones listed in the OP actually do do beneficial work, but some of them clearly do, and I take it that the point was to list organizations that do that, and were founded by people at least partly motivated by religion.) ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/84 "2013-10-02T17:06:13Z")
> [@sentrix](#): > > take a look at the political situation globally. more wars have been started in the name of religion or who is goring who’s gawd then anything else. I don’t know about that, simple conquest outnumbers wars of religion. Further, religious wars often have a materialist agenda behind them. Religion functions more often as an excuse for war than a motive for it. ETA: There is some evidence that religious wars are more destructive than others, as compromise between the warring sides is made more difficult by the nature of the conflict. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/85 "2013-10-02T17:07:11Z")
I think that mickiel highlights the biggest problem with a ‘theistic’ society - the inherent nature of “us vs them” - sure, even in an atheistic society we would find reasons to fight, it just wont be over ‘who’s version of god is superior’. ---
**Author:** ![sentrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@sentrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sentrix)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/86 "2013-10-02T17:10:35Z")
i’ve had more syrians weeping on my shoulder than you have had hot dinners. can never go back. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/87 "2013-10-02T17:11:22Z")
Basically your atheist world would look a lot like a world filled with people that don’t believe in Santa Claus. Few people would worry incessantly about placating an all powerful gift giver Few people would reach for supernatural explanations for events and disappointments Few people would use Santa Claus as an excuse for behaviour and would have to justify their actions on other things. However atheism isn’t a homogeneous organized system of belief, it’s simply a description for a belief system without a god. ---
**Author:** ![sentrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@sentrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sentrix)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/88 "2013-10-02T17:12:41Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > I don’t know about that, simple conquest outnumbers wars of religion. Further, religious wars often have a materialist agenda behind them. Religion functions more often as an excuse for war than a motive for it. > > ETA: There is some evidence that religious wars are more destructive than others, as compromise between the warring sides is made more difficult by the nature of the conflict. i have been in situations in gender based, religious places that i was so shit scared for my life you wouldn’t believe. ---
**Author:** ![sentrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@sentrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sentrix)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/89 "2013-10-02T17:13:44Z")
talk islam. talk christians. buddhists. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/90 "2013-10-02T17:15:54Z")
**Mickiel** , having read your previous thread I think I know how deep your research into non-Christian organizations will go, so let me give you a hand. Ever hear of the Red Crescent Movement? ---
**Author:** ![sentrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@sentrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sentrix)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/91 "2013-10-02T17:23:08Z")
shhh let him google. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/92 "2013-10-02T17:24:12Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Because He’s into BDSM and humiliation? [Cite](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Joachim_Beuckelaer_-_Christ_on_the_Cross_-_WGA2107.jpg). You’re going to Hell, you know. But not for that. The reasons for your damnation are structural. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/93 "2013-10-02T17:24:39Z")
> [@sentrix](#): > > i have been in situations in gender based, religious places that i was so shit scared for my life you wouldn’t believe. I don’t doubt it, but stroll on over to [List of wars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars#Wars). Religion is just one of many things people will kill over, and it’s not #1 on the list. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/94 "2013-10-02T17:24:59Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > Religions are not rationalist, they are based upon faith, not reason. That’s very Protestant of you. Two quotes for you, both by Prof. Wouter Hanegraaff: > [@](#): > > Belief may often be of great importance in religion, but that lived religion is ‘based upon it’ is a Protestant and rationalist preconception (and the main weakness in traditional anti-religious polemics): one does not practice religion because one holds certain beliefs, but rather, in the course of practicing religion one professes to hold certain beliefs. And: > [@](#): > > The modern study of religion has only slowly managed to break free from the crypto-Protestant idea that religion is ‘based’ upon—and hence defined by—‘belief’ (i.e. upon the adherence to certain propositions held to be true), and many scholars continue to think in these terms even today. Applied to the history of Christianity, this has the effect of calling attention away from its symbolic, mythical and ritual aspects, in favour of an artificial concentration on Christian doctrine as supposedly representing the core of what Christianity is all about for the believer. […] [H]istorically it is extremely misleading, for in many respects an approach based upon the Protestant principle is simply incapable of describing who Christians have actually been, what they have believed, and how they have behaved. Moving on: > [@Mickiel](#): > > Would Atheism make monolithic changes in this world if it were the majority? And what changes would they be? And would the world be better off and why? I think this is like asking what would happen if left-handed people ran the world. Meaning that _I know of no reliable studies which show that people who self-identify as “atheists” tend to act any more (or less) “morally” than people who self-identify as “theists.”_ (If you - any of you - know of such a study, lemme know.) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/95 "2013-10-02T17:29:26Z")
Here’s a couple of Islamic groups for your list, **Mickiel** : Union Of Good American Muslim Council ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/96 "2013-10-02T17:33:19Z")
And now for the topper, **Mickiel** : [Here is the list you asked for](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_secularist_organizations), complete with descriptions that you refuse to provide for _your_ list. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/97 "2013-10-02T17:34:30Z")
> [@Mickiel](#): > > Well explain the Atheist view of family values; if there is a common one. In theory, if Atheist ruled the world, how would that effect family life? There is no “atheist view of family values” just like there is no “a-unicornist view of family values”. Atheists have families. They raise those families according to their values. What those values are varies from atheist to atheist. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/98 "2013-10-02T17:36:39Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > That’s very Protestant of you. No doubt; as I am from heavily-Protestant Kentucky, my influence has been Protestants. > [@](#): > > Two quotes for you, both by Prof. Wouter Hanegraaff: > > And: > > Moving on: Er, it’s rather hard to say that religion isn’t based upon “the adherence to certain propositions held to be true”, when without holding the proposition that one’s God or Gods are real and you are worshipping them correctly, you don’t have a religion, you have theater. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/99 "2013-10-02T17:38:13Z")
> [@Mickiel](#): > > So can you list these " Religious Laws" and explain why we would be better off without them? I have to list them for you? Can you not think of ONE example in the world where religion dictates laws of conduct? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188/100 "2013-10-02T17:51:26Z")
> [@Mickiel](#): > > Are you suggesting there would be no Atheistic violence? No, read it again. I said no religious sectarian violence (or, vastly reduced violence of this sort, if there are still some religious people around). > [@](#): > > Are you suggesting that all Theist teaching is silly? No, I’m suggesting some of it is. > [@](#): > > Would a dominant world of Atheist then seek to totally stop any Theism? No, I don’t think so. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-difference-would-it-make-if-atheist-ruled-the-world/670188.md?page=6)