Erm, no. There was a whole massive party system backing up those dictators. It was a lot more than 3 or 5 people. Now, you could argue that it wasn't really about religion. That they were simply people who weren't sufficiently controlled for the party's tastes, who resisted and were therefore seen as a threat. But they were killed by large organised systems involving lots of people.

In connection with the 'uncaused causer' idea, again it's mainly a peculiarity of the semitic religions to encourage a straight line view of time with a beginning and an end. The old systems in Europe and Eastern thought as a whole seem far more into a cyclical model. I think I'm right in saying that some scientists still believe in a big bang going to big crunch and starting up again sort of idea.

As far as I'm concerned, the idea of matter/the universe/ whatever always being there is no more ridiculous than the idea of it being created out of nothing.