Posted on 07/30/2007 10:47:45 PM PDT by B-Chan
I’ve just read a most interesting 2004 book by Oxford historian Alister McGrath, arguing that we are currently looking at the twilight of atheism.
That’s certainly my impression, judging from the remarkably ill-advised antics of the recent anti-God campaign. One thing the campaign made quite clear is that atheistic materialism is not some neutral middle ground on which we can happily do science experiments together. On the contrary, your local atheist now wants you to know that he is militant, and that could be trouble for you if you are a theist or non-materialist of some kind.
Well, trouble for somebody, anyway. Euripides said long ago: Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
McGrath’s thesis is that atheism’s most brilliant period was the eighteenth century. It flourished in the nineteenth century, and started to collapse after the fall of communism revealed how awful it all was. One problem seems to have been that the substitution of materialist for non-materialist atheism made the grounding of values difficult - as Nietzsche realized.
Some interesting observations from Twilight of Atheism (2004).
Everywhere there are signs that atheism is losing its appeal. ... The term “postatheist” is now widely used to designate the collapse of atheism as a worldview in Eastern Europe and the resurgence of religious belief thought many of those areas that had once been considered officially atheist. Yet it is now clear postatheism is not limited to the East; it is becoming a recognizable presence within Wesern culture. Atheism, once seen as Western culture’s hot date with the future, is now seen as an embarrassing link with a largely discredited past. (p. 174)Come to think of it, I keep running into people here in Canada who tell me that, (like McGrath himself), they were once atheists. They sure aren't now.
One symptom of decline, he points out, is the general disconnectedness of atheist messages from reality:
Works of atheist propaganda seemed to relive long-forgotten battles; they paid disturbingly little attention to the more worrying aspects of he twentieth century, not least the highly ambivalent legacy of institutionalized atheism itself. (p. 178)Essentially, where at one time atheism felt exciting and liberating, it now feels by turns dull and threatening - like a sullen and bad-tempered neighbour. You wish he would move, but you can't decently wish him on anyone else.
Atheism won’t go on the decline until we stand up and stop letting the state protect, and promote secularism, humanism, and socialism (all atheistic in their effect)even as it banishes freedom of press, speech, and assembly for Christians, and the Judeo-Christian ethic, in our schools, congresses, court houses, and an ever expanding list of “public” places.
read later
More nonsense from O’Leary. Atheism’s supposed decline in Eastern Europe is simply a mirage caused by the casting off of the communist dictatorships in the region. The people of those nations were never enthusiastic atheists because it was forced down their throats in the first place. Once the shackles came off, the old religious beliefs that were always there underneath, quickly came back into the open.
Western Europe is more secular, more atheist, and the only discernible change has been the influx of those same Eastern Europeans swelling the congregations of Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Outside of those immigrant communities, things have gotten more secular, if anything.
And in the USA, all the recent surveys have shown that each new generation has been less religious than the last. From about 5% for the over 50s to about 15% for the under 30s, and historical surveys indicate that each generation tends to remain the way they started. So the trend in the US is *toward* secular thought, not away from it, and we have a long way to go yet.
I find it amusing that the people who claim revival whenever religious books or books about Intelligent Design and creationism hit the best sellers list, are the very same people who want us to believe that having multiple best sellers from atheists on the charts for months means the certain demise of atheism. Yeah, right.
O’Leary beats a monotonous drum against atheism, and has done for many years, so I’m not surprised to see that she choses to ignore the obvious in her latest diatribe.
In the US, I don’t think that people are denying God’s existance. I always hear people saying that they believe in God but... consider organized religion to be evil etc. Rather, they just aren’t going to church like before or living as strictly to Christian morals as they were in the past. (Not saying this is good!!!!!)
Just because we Americans are drifting toward the back pews into a broader, mellower agnosticism and deism, with a concomitant increased proportion of actual nontheists, atheists and antithiests doesn’t necessarily bring us to the opposite conclusion that the polity will suddenly revel in epiphanous frissons of apostasy and apognosis.
Witness the broadening reach of Buddhism, particularly Zen & Theravada. Buddhism isn’t just for the avante-liberal and groovy peaceniks...
Swallow a dictionary last night, by any chance?
I’m not claiming that atheism will come to dominate the US as Christianity does today, I was simply pointing out how ridiculous O’Leary’s claim is that atheism is somehow in its last throes. The evidence point to the opposite being true.
I agree that nature abhors a vacuum and other religious traditions, and wholly new ones, will more likely fill any void a decline in Christianity leaves behind. (BTW: Despite the hysteria from some on this board, Islam hasn’t got a chance of becoming a major religion in the US.)
In the long run (over decades), I see the landscape of American belief becoming more like the one you see in other Western Nations. There will still be a majority of nominal Christians (those who believe but don’t practice), a large minority of non-believers, and then a hodgepodge of other faiths, including many who would consider themselves “spiritual” without adhering to any particular religion.
My atheist predictions:
The USA will come to be dominated politically by Mormons and Latin Catholics. Both groups tend toward entrepreneurship, pro-life & other standard conservative stances.
Europeans, generally, are going to run *back* into the waiting arms of Christiandom when they find what’s lacking in cultural relativism, esp. that which allows crap like Sharia courts. Were the Caliphate ever to become a reality across the Mediterranean DMZ, Europe might even find a way to desecularize quickly.
Asia will be forced to likewise retrench in its Buddhist tradition, along with Chinese Confucianism, in response to the broadening cultural conflict with Islam.
All societies go through cycles of secularization, etc. With each cycle the back pews move a bit more to the middle rows and the bulk of the layity moderates somewhat. The two most humanist religions - Christianity and Buddhism - will be most able to coexist a more secularized polity.
Islam and Hinduism, however, will have a harder time with secularization b/c each religion holds onto some atavistic doctrines that haven’t been supplanted by more humanist canons. The civil war within Islam will continue so long as Islamists insist on compulsory belief which will breed more apostates than it would otherwise were Islam to secularize itself. Hindu fundies will try to obstruct the conversion of the Dalits (and other higher-cast Hindus) to Buddhism, but they’ll have far less success than Muslim fundies in limiting conversions to other faiths. The civil wars in Sri Lanka and Burma may play into this, perhaps Bangladesh if she continues to be beggared by her non-Muslim neighbors.
Increased population throughout Asia, Asia Minor and Africa will particularly intensify renewed interest in religion b/c of increased intercultural frictions. It’ll be up to the more-secular moderates in all societies to try to stem the worst aspects of the trend.
Interesting. Demographics alone would certainly account for a rapid increase in the Latin Catholic numbers — 25% of the US population by 2050, by recent accounts — but I really don’t see Mormonism having the same amount of success. It’s still treated as a cult by many Christians and non-believers alike, and try as they might, the more, er, quirky aspects of their religion will probably be a barrier to wholesale conversion.
The idea of a European Caliphate is a non-starter. The demographics do not support it (birth rate + immigration patterns), and no matter how tolerant European nations may be towards other faiths today, they will not allow Muslims to establish extreme policies such as Sharia Law within their boundaries. I do see a lot of hysteria on these boards about this, but a Muslim take-over of Europe is just not going to happen from the inside.
So, while there may be the odd uptick in Christian worship in parts of Europe, the overall trend will be downwards for the foreseeable future.
I agree that Islam is the most entrenched religion. I liken the position of Islam to where Christianity was 600 - 800 years ago. It will be many decades, perhaps even a century or two, before the Muslim world sees the back of the powerful extremists who demand adherence to fundamentalist beliefs and practices.
I’m not sure sure about Hindus though. I can’t say I know much about their faith, but one has to remember that India has been a secular democracy for over 50 years despite the heavy pressures of religion. Quite a remarkable achievement given the turmoil in the country, and it might well stick as they see the benefits of new technology and business piling into the country.
As for China, well, as with Russia and Eastern Europe, imposed atheism is not a viable prospect in the long term. It would be only natural for people to turn to religion once it is no longer forbidden (and, in fact, many of them are likely to have never abandoned their beliefs in the first place).
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