Atheism is not necessarily a belief in human capabilities; one can be an atheist-determinist (in theory, this is the "hardcore" atheism of the 19th and 20th centuries), and by considering everything to be predetermined from the beginning, one automatically denies the existence of possibilities for anyone. One can be an atheist while still believing that the world is sufficiently chaotic and random – again, little depends on each individual here. Etymologically, atheism is simply the absence of faith in any god. There is no need to say that faith is a refuge for the weak, who cannot cope with their problems on their own and therefore invent a kind of helper-god, while atheism is the lot of the strong in spirit, who can do without "this hypothesis." 2Alexey-Punk – it is perfectly clear that Islamic extremism is being exploited for political purposes. But this does not negate either the fact of its existence or its significance. There are absolutely no signs of dementia in the Pope, and there is nothing shameful about being at an advanced age. It is impossible to make a clinical diagnosis without the appropriate education and without предварительно observation; and to call him names just because he belongs to a religion that you hate seems unworthy to me. If I use offensive words about Muhammad, I can state the reasons that prompted me to do so, and "he was a Muslim!" is not one of them. Regarding Tsarist Russia, I agree that it must have been a terrible place. Workers and peasants languished in poverty and died of hunger, while the upper classes wallowed in luxury – this is outrageous. If the Tsarist regime had been good, so many people (almost all urban dwellers) would not have been inspired by the idea of revolution. But at the same time, I am convinced that throughout the history of mankind, there has been no more vile and repulsive system than the Soviet one; in my opinion, even Nazi Germany was better. I will not explain why in this topic; it is better to create a special thread to discuss the Soviet Union. By the way, it is quite relevant