Why havn't there been any great ath*ist civilization? The

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>>3000435
*blocks your path*

>>3000435
I've heard a person claim that Buddhist societies, and therefore any civilizations which were Buddhist, are actually atheist since apperantly they don't worship any deities.

>>3000489
civilization, not insect colony

>>3000534
>>>/pol/

>North Korea
>atheist

they worship their leader as a god

According to Age of Empires 2, the Huns have an atheism perk.

>>3000534
>b-but shanghai disproves my bullshit theory, SO IT DOESN'T COUNT!

Prior to the modern era it was because religion was a very effective tool to control the population. In the modern era its a moot point since all great civilizations have mostly secular governments.

Revolutionary France
Nazi Germany

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>>3000435
*blocks your path*

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>>3000489
>>3000563
But China is rapidly Christianizing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10776023/China-on-course-to-become-worlds-most-Christian-nation-within-15-years.html

>>3000499
Buddhist theology (if you can even call it that) is weird by Western standards. I think Buddha even said that the gods are real but they aren't relevant (don't quote me on that).

>>3000561
The Huns do seem to have been atheistic, but I'd hardly call them a "civilization".

>>3000585
Both relatively short lived, but relevant.

>>3000593
pic related

>>3000585
Revolutionary France was Deistic wasn't it?

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>>3001948

>"If everyone in China believed in Jesus then we would have no more need for police stations. There would be no more bad people and therefore no more crime," she added.

People still believe this shit?

Because it hasn't been socially acceptable, since you'd be a total social pariah or simply executed in some societies for just worshipping a different god or set of gods.

God has also been an extremely viable way to explain a lot of things until recently. What is light? What is sound? Why do things move? Why do we look like our parents? What's the big bright thing? Why do the stars move so predictably? Why won't it rain? Why do seasons exist? Why did this snake kill my son?

It's all trivial now, but up till even medieval times, there was no plausible explanation but something/someone more.