According to Livescience.com, 27 percent of political scientists believe in the existence of God.[2]
Most atheists skew to the left politically (see: Atheism and politics and Secular left).
Few, if any, political scientists predicted early on that Donald Trump would win the Republican primary and then would subsequently be elected president of the United States. Furthermore, most pollsters indicated that Trump would lose the election.
In 2019, John Feffer wrote at the left leaning The Nation:
“ | In the Americas, the Trump tsunami has swept across both continents and the 'pink tide' of progressivism has all but disappeared from the southern half of the hemisphere...
In this planet-wide rising tide of right-wing populism, the liberal left commands only a few disconnected islands — Iceland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, Uruguay... Worse, crafty operators with even more ambitious agendas stand ready to destroy the liberal status quo once and for all."[3] |
” |
Atheists political scientists largely failed to understand, much less predict, the rapid rise of right-wing nationalism in the world.
As noted above, 27 percent of American political scientists believe in the existence of God. On the other hand, 76 percent of American doctors said they believe in God.[4]
Compared to medical science which has many effective medicines and surgical procedures, the social science of political science is often unreliable.
There is a significant correlation between authoritarian regimes and the spread of atheism (see: State atheism).
According to the University of Cambridge, historically, the "most notable spread of atheism was achieved through the success of the 1917 Russian Revolution, which brought the Marxist-Leninists to power."[5]
Atheism is a core tenet of militant communist ideology (see: Atheism and communism). In 1955, Chinese communist leader Zhou Enlai declared, "We Communists are atheists".[6]
See also: China and atheism and Atheism and communism and Atheism and authoritarianism
China has the world's largest atheist population and practices state atheism.[8][9]
East Asia contains about 25 percent of the world’s population. China’s population represents 20 percent of the people on earth.[10]
Razib Khan points out in Discover Magazine, "most secular nations in the world are those of East Asia, in particular what are often termed “Confucian societies.” It is likely therefore that the majority of the world’s atheists are actually East Asian."[11] See: Asian atheism and Global atheism
The ethnic Chinese in Taiwan and Singapore are ahead of atheistic, communist China in terms of economic development by at least 50 years.[12] The atheistic, political scientists in China are of a marked lower caliber.
Much of China's population is still poor and like most atheistic, communist countries, China is authoritarian (see: Atheism and authoritarianism and Atheism and communism).
See also: Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and Atheism and economic prosperity
Atheism is a part of Marxist-Leninist and Maoist/Chinese communist ideology (See: Atheism and communism).
On the other hand, the atheist and Harvard University historian Niall Ferguson declared: "Through a mixture of hard work and thrift the Protestant societies of the North and West Atlantic achieved the most rapid economic growth in history."[14] See: Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
In China, the growth in religion has accompanied China’s fast economic growth over the last twenty years.[15] Christianity is seeing rapid growth in China and the historian Niall Ferguson attributes this recent economic growth to the Protestant work ethic being more incorporated into Chinese society.[16] See also: Protestant work ethic and Growth of Christianity in China
See also: Atheism and forced labor and Religion and abolitionism
In atheistic communist regimes forced labor has often played a significant role in their economies and this practice continues to this day.[17] [18][19][20]
The black conservative author and commentator Thomas Sowell wrote in an essay entitled Ending slavery: "The anti-slavery movement was spearheaded by people who would today be called 'the religious right' and its organization was created by conservative businessmen."[21] See also: Religion and abolitionism
See also: Atheism and sloth
As noted above, according to the University of Cambridge, historically, the "most notable spread of atheism was achieved through the success of the 1917 Russian Revolution, which brought the Marxist-Leninists to power."[5]
The former Soviet Union had state atheism.
Widespread sloth in the former Soviet Union helped cause much poverty.[23][24] A study performed in the former Soviet Union found that over 50% of the work force admitted to drinking alcohol while on the job (See also: Atheism and alcoholism).[25] In the former Soviet Union, a popular joke was that the workers pretended to work and the Soviet Union pretended to pay them.[26]
In 1982, the website Foreign Affairs indicated about the Soviet Union and food production:
“ | What has changed during these two decades? How is it possible that the Soviet Union has almost exactly the same area of arable and permanent crop land per head of the population as has the United States, namely 0.89 hectares (2.2 acres), and cannot feed its population adequately, whereas U.S. agriculture not only supplies the population with one of the richest diets in the world but in addition supplies more food for export than any other country?[27] | ” |
The Soviet Union collapsed. The atheistic political scientists in the Soviet Union were of a low caliber in terms of developing a functional political system.