Fides et ratio

I stumbled upon the image above one night while procrastinating instead of homeworking. It's a photo-shopped image of one of the "Atheist buses." The actual buses are driving around London preaching to everyone that since there is "probably no god" they should "just enjoy [their] live(s)." Somebody thought it would be funny to make an even stronger comment on religion with photo-shop. I disagreed, and commented my thoughts on the subject and became engaged in a nice little conversation with some anonymous poster.
But this is a position I have heard in various forms many times. I have heard many people talk about how dumb religion is, or how bad religion really is for humankind or how many attrocities have been committed by religions.
I would like to reply.
The fact of the matter is that if religion is responsible for a massive amount of bloodshed, science is just as culpable. Science in the twentieth century advanced so that we can now kill unparalleled numbers of people, all with the push of a button. Even the nineteenth century saw a new capability for bloodshed.
Starting in the 1800s Dr. Richard Gatling created the first automatic firearm, and shortly after, Alfred Nobel's work with nitroglycerin, gun cotton and dynamite led him to have such a guilty conscience that he created a peace award to make up for it. World War I brought in the horrors of mechanized warfare, the flame thrower, and, worst of all, the use of poison gases, the use of which prompted a special Geneva treaty against the use of chemical and biological warfare. Then came World War II and the catastrophic destruction wreaked when on August 6, 1945 we dropped the atom bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Of course, following this were nuclear proliferation treaties and various other acts against nuclear war (excepting the invention of Hydrogen bomb and the Cold War). Even after this, we used Agent Orange in Vietnam.
And what of religion in all of this? None of the nations involved in either World War were fighting for religion. But, in Vatican II, nuclear warfare was strictly condemned. The atrocities of the NAZIs have been repeatedly condemned by the Church.
On the other hand, religion has done great things in the last hundred years. Mother Theresa of Calcutta and Dorothy Day fed the hungry. Thomas Merton protested war. Rev Martin Luther King, Jr fought injustice and inequality. Pope John Paul II helped liberate Poland. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was arrested for encouraging students to not fight for the NAZIs.
Granted, there have been attrocities committed by people claiming religion as the cause. But we must really ask ourselves, "Is religion the true motive?" Religion never teaches a man to kill his neighbor, nor does it ever teach him to take advantage or commit any injustice. However, evil men have used the name of religion to confuse others into committing horrible acts. Religious doctrines have never taught people to engage in mindless destruction or merciless violence.
However, against atheism, both Hitler and Stalin directed atheist states. Even more recently, Bosnia, still coming out of its socialistic, atheistic days, engaged in a effort of "ethnic cleansing."
Believers have a long tradition of examples to look up to. Jesus, the Buddha, the saints, the martyrs, and other have provided for us the lifestyles we should follow.