I don't care what nationality advances science, but I do want unabashedly authoritarian regimes to be at a technical and scientific disadvantage to ones that at least pay lip service to human rights.
But hey, we've got lip service!
Not that there aren't problems in China. But people should check their biases and learn some history before advancing radical hot takes.
and which one of these states is officially atheist and requires the same to become a govt official?
realize oversimplification is a problem, but false equivalence also runs both ways.
there is likely room in the middle, which perhaps is what you are saying..
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/atheists-in-congre...
Several US states are in fact officially theist and requires the same to become a govt official (despite apparently violating the US Constitution.)
https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2009/12/15/which-states-...
As far as atheism goes, the government propaganda under Xi has been including a lot of Taoist imagery and references lately, from what I understand.
What I'm saying is that they're people and demonization serves nobody. I'm also saying that the demonization I've seen lately from the tech industry correlates negatively with actual knowledge of the country.