Atheism

=== Criticism of religion ===
{{See also|Criticism of religion}}
[[File:JSJoseSaramago.jpg|thumb|Author [[José Saramago]] criticizes religion.]]

Some prominent atheists—most recently [[Christopher Hitchens]], [[Daniel Dennett]], [[Sam Harris (author)|Sam Harris]], and [[Richard Dawkins]], and following such thinkers as [[Bertrand Russell]], [[Robert G. Ingersoll]], [[Voltaire]], and novelist [[José Saramago]]—have criticized religions, citing harmful aspects of religious practices and doctrines.<ref>{{harvnb|Harris|2005}}, {{harvnb|Harris|2006}}, {{harvnb|Dawkins|2006}}, {{harvnb|Hitchens|2007}}, {{harvnb|Russell|1957}}</ref>

The 19th-century German political theorist and sociologist [[Karl Marx]] called religion "the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the [[opium of the people]]". He goes on to say, "The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo."<ref>Marx, K. 1976. Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right. Collected Works, v. 3. New York.</ref>

Sam Harris criticizes Western religion's reliance on divine authority as lending itself to [[authoritarianism]] and [[dogma]]tism.{{sfn|Harris|2006a}} There is a correlation between [[religious fundamentalism]] and [[Extrinsic religious orientation|extrinsic religion]] (when religion is held because it serves ulterior interests)<ref name="Moreira-almeida2006">{{cite journal |doi=10.1590/S1516-44462006005000006 |last1=Moreira-almeida |first1=A. |last2=Neto |first2=F. |last3=Koenig |first3=H.G. |year=2006 |title=Religiousness and mental health: a review |journal=Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria |volume=28 |pages=242–250 |pmid=16924349 |issue=3|doi-access=free }}</ref> and authoritarianism, dogmatism, and prejudice.<ref>See for example: {{cite journal |last1=Kahoe |first1=R.D. |date=June 1977 |title=Intrinsic Religion and Authoritarianism: A Differentiated Relationship |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=179–182 |jstor=1385749 |doi=10.2307/1385749}} Also see: {{cite journal |last1=Altemeyer |first1=Bob |first2=Bruce |last2=Hunsberger |year=1992 |title=Authoritarianism, Religious Fundamentalism, Quest, and Prejudice |journal=[[International Journal for the Psychology of Religion]] |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=113–133 |doi=10.1207/s15327582ijpr0202_5}}</ref>

These arguments—combined with historical events that are argued to demonstrate the dangers of religion, such as the [[Crusades]], [[inquisition]]s, [[Witch-hunt|witch trials]], and [[Religious terrorism|terrorist attacks]]—have been used in response to claims of beneficial effects of belief in religion.<ref>{{cite web |last=Harris |first=Sam |author-link=Sam Harris (author) |title=An Atheist Manifesto |url=http://www.truthdig.com/dig/print/200512_an_atheist_manifesto |access-date=April 9, 2011 |publisher=[[Truthdig]] |year=2005 |quote=In a world riven by ignorance, only the atheist refuses to deny the obvious: Religious faith promotes human violence to an astonishing degree. |ref=none |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516191405/http://www.truthdig.com/dig/print/200512_an_atheist_manifesto |archive-date=May 16, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
Believers counter-argue that some [[state atheism|regimes that espouse atheism]], such as the [[Soviet Union]], have also been guilty of mass murder.<ref name="John S. Feinberg, Paul D. Feinberg">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nl-f5SKq9mgC&pg=PA697 |last1=Feinberg |first1=John S. |author-link1=John S. Feinberg |last2=Feinberg |first2=Paul D. |author-link2=Paul D. Feinberg |title=Ethics for a Brave New World |publisher=[[Greg Koukl|Stand To Reason]] |quote=Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.' Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.' |access-date=October 18, 2007 |isbn=978-1-58134-712-8 |year=2010}}</ref><ref name="Totalitarianism and Atheism">{{cite web |url=http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/answering-atheists/answering-atheists-arguments.html |title=Answering Atheist's Arguments |publisher=Catholic Education Resource Center |last=D'Souza |first=Dinesh |author-link=Dinesh D'Souza |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028215055/http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/answering-atheists/answering-atheists-arguments.html |archive-date=October 28, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> In response to those claims, atheists such as Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins have stated that Stalin's atrocities were influenced not by atheism but by dogmatic ideology, and that while Stalin and Mao happened to be atheists, they did not do their deeds in the name of atheism.{{sfn|Dawkins|2006|p=291}}<ref>[http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/harris06/harris06_index.html 10 myths and 10 truths about Atheism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525005256/http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/harris06/harris06_index.html |date=May 25, 2013 }} Sam Harris</ref><ref>"That does not, however, show that the atrocities committed by these totalitarian dictatorships were the result of atheist beliefs, carried out in the name of atheism, or caused primarily by the atheistic aspects of the relevant forms of communism." {{cite book |last1=Blackford |first1=R. |last2=Schüklenk |first2=U. |title=50 great myths about atheism |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-470-67404-8 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fR1rAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fR1rAAAAQBAJ |chapter=Myth 27 Many Atrocities Have Been Committed in the Name of Atheism |page=88 |access-date=August 13, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151030203821/https://books.google.com/books?id=fR1rAAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover |archive-date=October 30, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>