Can atheism cause evil?

Many believe that atheism can cause evil. They create a list of infamous atheists (like Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot), and assume that it must have been atheism that motivated their actions. In other words, many people believe that lack of a belief in God causes evil. But is this true? Does atheism cause evil? I am going to argue that it doesn't, and that atheism logically cannot cause anything in and of itself. Below is a video called Atheists killed 150 million people in the name of Atheism. While I will deny that it was atheism that caused certain evils, it cannot be denied that many believe that it does.



It is very common for believers to argue atheism by pointing to infamous historical figures that happen to be atheists and claiming - "see, look at what atheism causes!". Correlation however does not equal causation; can it be proven that atheism can and/or does cause violence? No. In-fact the opposite can be shown to be true. It has been shown that statistically, atheist nations are more peaceful  (as shown in the video below)

With any intellectual honesty at all, it cannot be argued that atheism causes anything—even outside of statistics—atheism can't actually cause anything (it is a lack of a belief, not a belief in itself). But it has been shown that lack of religion correlates with lower rates of violence within a society. Why would those that believe in an imaginary big-brother have a tendency to behave more violently? I believe it comes down to two main things which cause paranoia that leads to violent behavior.

1). Feeling of being watched 24/7 (fear of punishment for not being  perfect in Jesus/Yahweh/God/Allah's eyes).


2). Higher promotion of in-group/out-group mentality (along with the demonization/dehumanization of the 'out-group').

A religious world-view (referring world-views caused primarily by Abrahamic religions) can be altered to be more secular (i.e. non-religious) and still keep some of its core-beliefs (Jesus, heaven, etc.). That said, it still appears that societies that are dominated with individuals with an atheist world-view is less violent than the alternative. So it seems that atheism in a society is ultimately a good thing, but there are obviously other belief systems that are nonreligious ('religious' in the context of Abrahamic and other similar belief systems) that can cause a person to act violently (e.g. Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot). The point here is that it is belief systems that cause evil, not atheism. Atheism is not a belief system but a lack of one. It takes a belief system to make a sane person act crazy.