You forgot to mention George Bush the democratic dictator. A man political and economically driven, but also using the Christian God as his witness. So he is unlikely to ban religion or the numerous spiritually beliefs FINALLY historically allowed. Perhaps he is the new era of dictator. The communists tried to ban God, that didn´t work. So the new mostly male Power allows us our freedom of beliefs. Less likely to uprise - espcially as we are too busy watching the show on CNN.
So should we go back prior to 200 years then! No thanks, not this butterfly. History was still brutal then with Christianity involved. These days I am not considered a heretic and burnt at the stake.
Excerpt from a site about The Tower of London: Instruments of Torture Before the 17th century torture of prisoners was a regular part of the routine at the Tower of London.
During the religious ferment that gripped England in the 16th-century, the rack was used freely not only by the Catholic Queen Mary, but by those monarchs who had broken with Rome - Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth I.
This place looks rather attractive too and interesting to note amongst the tourist diatribe that the London Dungeon brings more than 2,000 years of gruesomely authentic history vividly back to life....and death.
Land Lords / tribal chiefs controlling smaller groups and areas than the numbers dictators can stand over and kill. Still could have your head cut off for not walking into the same direction as whichever moral, political values of the area resided. The majority of the dictators you mention refuted religion. Which was the only moral value resource available to people. And they were allowed little freedom to maintain or develop moral depth.
Now we are allowed to hold our own spiritual reigns and I belief that we don´t tend to do worse on the whole. We can create our own worldview. The biggest barrier for me becoming a Christian when I did an Alpha course was not my pride, nor my flaws. It was the box that would limit my imagination. I question and recognise moral value in much more than Christianity. I recognise and work through fixing fix my flaws all the time, proof to me that I CAN. I believe in evolution of the Self never ends. The Christian understanding does not support me being God to this growth.
I am not angry, enjoying the discussion actually. I never forget to learn, and hold love close to my heart. I don´t assume the position that Christians think themselves better. But when consistently told that my path is wrong, there is only One God - I just cannot agree. Belief and gospel can still be a judgement and I don´t believe in Heaven or Hell. My spirit needs not to fly there.
Child awake, post over.