No punishment has ever possessed enough power of deterrence to prevent the commission of crimes. On the contrary whatever the punishment once a specific crime has appeared for the first time its reappearance is more likely than its initial emergence could ever have been.
The only peace that can be made with a dictator is once that must be based on deterrence. For today the dictator may be your friend but tomorrow he will need you as an enemy.
Fables should be taught as fables myths as myths and miracles as poetic fantasies. To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing. The child mind accepts and believes them and only through great pain and perhaps tragedy can he be in after years relieved of them.