“The author of Lattenomics makes the assertion that Russia and China under communism were not religious and were brutal. This is a pretty lame observation”.

Paul, you are misrepresenting my point. I was just highlighting that the most brutal societies in recent history were in fact either atheist like China and USSR or openly hostile to religion like fascist Italy and Germany.

I was just injecting some balance into the mix. If one goes on to trumpet about how bad religion is to the world, shouldn’t we also look at the historical record of societies that were not religious?

“The conclusion we are asked to make? That because Russia and China were atheist and also brutal dictatorships, all atheist societies will become brutal dictatorships.”

Actually, you have made exactly the wrong conclusion. I was merely counterbalancing Mather’s argument attributing all ills of the world to religion by pointing out tremendous misery some non-religious societies have caused in our very recent past.

“He also includes Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (which is historically wrong).”

How is that wrong exactly? Both Nazis and Italian fascist were openly hostile to religion. That is well documented and hardly controversial.