This list is nothing more than a crude attempt to blame free thinkers for atrocities committed by true believers, tricksters and psychopathic maniacs.

http://tinyurl.com/2d57pd

Update: CS, how would you answer this question. If you went down to the local college today and killed a whole lot of people, should I blame the action on your religious upbringing? Yes, Hitler was raised Catholic, Stalin was raised in the Orthodox Church. Mao was raised as a Buddhist, and they all repudiated their religious upbringing. Hitler rejected traditional Christianity. Once in power, these monsters persecuted religious groups. The notion that atrocities by atheist can simply be traced back and blamed on religion is a gross perversion of history in my opinion.

First post: I'd compare this to a discussion between two people who are 6 feet tall arguing who's taller. Evil is not intrinsic to religion. Period.

Huh..to be honest..it's not the religion that stirs wars and masscares. It's the personal deity, who finds obsession in blood, to quench itself. Did I say last time that small gods fear us?....and God the justice, and the pefect is preparing a wine to drink with the heathen god worshippers, who cleverly, and twistingly grooved their agenda in the name of God. Prove me wrong!...

IMO, atrocities and massacres have more to do with demographics and economics than ideology (religious or atheistic). Good topic for a list, actually...

This list, one of the best of RIA, has clearly made the difference in pointing out deep rooted hatred of some members, who will not hesitate to go to any extremes in order to criticize and blame religion for all the wrongs in the world, all the while exposing the same sick and wicked attributes they attach to religions. The biggest and most atrocious religion of mankind history has been and continues to be atheism and most of the genocides and massive killings have been perpetrated by followers of this religion.

Evidently atheists claim to be tolerant when comparing themselves to other religions, but history don't lie; more genocides and massive killings have been perpetrated by atheists than by all religions combined.

But the basic, no nonsense truth is this: many evil people have claimed to be religious in order to justify and get support for their atrocities. Hence, critics will never admit that the religion itself has never had to do anything with the acts. Religion is not a political party, it is a personal, intimate spiritual relationship between a person and his/her deity. Humans are religious by nature and essence.

Are there religions that promote and condone killing? Yes. But that is extremism, that is, gross distortion of the very fundamentals of religion itself to use it as a tool to control the masses through fear and terror.

In the end, it will matter not what evil, wicked people have done in the name of a religion. The truth will always come down to one thing, and one thing alone: personal, individual and objective accountability for one's relationship with God. That is the ultimate truth, and no human has nor will ever be able to escape that. As sure as we all will one day die, we all will one day give an account. And that should be the most important thing a human should ever ponder.

This list is a classic American view of the world. A simplistic notion of what is and what is not religious. The only listing that makes any kind of sense refers to China. Strange that the best the religious can do is attempt to compare theological atrocities with real and (mostly imagined) 'atheist' atrocities. Religion should aim higher- but there's a good reason why, in historical terms, it can't.

I became a little tired of all the anti-religious types making the insinuation that religion has been the cause of all the slaughter and suffering in the world. A brief review of history is in order. What do we find? The jury of the historical muses returns the Iron Verdict of History to show that the religious killers were amateurs compared to the "modern" atheistic, anti-religious types. Read 'em and weep!

The Mohammedan enterprise overrunning India and the East was certainly heavy in slaughter. I read one time how the Mogul invaders killed thousands of devotees at a Hindu shrine. Still, I stand by my statistics.

The Khymer Rouge probably killed, in Cambodia, as many as all the previous religious wars in history.

When you examine the wars of history, not that many were outright religious wars.