In Defense of Godlessness

Every day I see a message, a meme, or a comment relating some cultural disturbance or unfortunate contemporary dynamic to the rise of atheism. 

That the reason we see the problems we do, on a societal level, is because of the loss of god. In fact, there are few, if any, conservative figures that do not insist on a societal return to the pulpit- that the mess we are in, is solved by theism. One case in point:

Sometimes I feel like a conservative, sometimes I feel like a liberal. There are certain strands of both political flavors that I am delighted to have pissed off. Whatever I am, I can say that I am an atheist. I say this not to be controversial or edgy- but because I was always an atheist. I think it is only controversial when juxtaposed with the centuries of religious dominance and religious-style thinking. Only until relatively recently could one say such a thing unscathed.

I should also say that I do not necessarily prescribe atheism on a global or personal scale. That is to say, I am an atheist, but I am not religious about it. 

Perhaps it is easy to look at, say, the rise of transgenderism, the rise of Marxist or Marxist-adjacent ideology, or anything that smacks of the far-left, and declare the problem of an ungodly sort. The type of problem that resembles a god-shaped hole in society’s spirit. 

Many will quickly point out the godlessness of socialism and the long list of despots and tyrants who were atheists- levying the death toll of these mass murderers (Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, etc.) in the column of atheist-produced madness and psychopathy. 

The problem, here, vaguely, is that while many totalitarian regimes were atheist, they simply replaced themselves as gods- borrowing in some ways from the authoritarian rule offered by many gods by way of commandments, supernatural all-knowing supervision, and fear, e.g. “I am a god-fearing man”.
The late Christopher Hitchens had described his idea of god-like supervision as living in a “celestial North Korea”. 

But to look at the world and see things you dislike increasing and connecting that to the modern-day prevalence of atheism is a fallacy- something like, “when man loses god, he will do anything.” Or, say, “when man loses morality in the absolute, then he is permitted to do anything”.

I say, as do others, this is false. Religion gets its morality from Mankind, not the other way around. When one takes a moment to glance at what is not only permitted in the holy books but commanded, it is made diamond clear that these codes of conduct hardly resemble what years of societal progress have managed to curate in terms of ethics, morals, or decency.

For instance:

EPHESIANS 6 1

“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.”

EXODUS 21: 7-8

"When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again."

We have come to ignore, or, repudiate these verses, for we see in them the infancy of our moral fabric-we have grown up. But we don’t need to travel back that far- it is not about the Bible, the Qur’an, the Torah, the Pyramid texts, The book of the Heavenly Cow, The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Labu myth and on and on, the list of religious texts one could reference is exhausting. 

And so, we find it easier to say, “well, one should believe in one god at the least”. But this is to solve no problem of any kind. Anyway, it only helps to believe in a god if you think that the god is watching and that there is some moral bookkeeping at hand. Deism may be humbling, but with it, we are still on our own.

If everyone did believe in a god, you would still be left with- which god? Whose god, what version of it, him, her, or they, would be satisfactory? Would the world be better off if there were more atheists, or more religious fundamentalists? More people who simply did not believe in a god, or more fundamentalists who are more than giddy to strap a bomb to themselves or a child? 

And while there are many examples of fundamentalism abroad, let us not forget what our European and Anglo-Saxon countries would look like if we took the Christian bible literally. 

It is precisely the values born out of the secular movements and secular argumentation that have released many of us from the same fundamentalism that is still a stain on so many nations and cultures today. We need our rationale, we need magic of no kind.

In 1964, Bob Dylan released “With God on Our Side”- a satirical take on what a man, army, or country might do if only they believe that they were doing so in concert with god. A few lines from the song:

“Oh, my name it is nothin' my age it means less
The country I come from is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there the laws to abide
And that land that I live in has God on its side

But now we got weapons of chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to then fire them we must
One push of the button and shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side

So now as I'm leaving
I'm weary as hell
The confusion I'm feelin' ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head and fall to the floor
If God's on our side he'll stop the next war”

Perhaps a text from a 1960s-era musician is unpersuasive and neither are religious texts from the Bronze Age. The rise of atheism and its prevalence in secular societies is not ungodly-it is simply a manifestation of a natural fact that science, reason, debate, and freedom of thought are all better instruments for understanding ourselves and the world around us. 

Slowly we are putting religious thinking behind us. We cannot afford to slide backward, nor can we afford to believe that god is on our side, or will prevent the next war.

Within the rise of so-called godlessness, we could be relieved to find a number of optimistic stats. Extreme poverty has fallen, child labor has declined, global life expectancy has risen, homicide rates in the US and European countries are down and literacy is on the incline. 

But I would not necessarily point to atheism as the root cause for these outcomes-but the very things that have liberated us from religious thinking and superstitious problems certainly are contributing factors.

This opinion piece is an urge for leadership, on whatever level of politics, level of debate, or conversation, that motions, whatever their framework, ought to be argued on a secular basis. More and more, and increasingly so, “because a god told us so” is a justification that will fall on deaf ears.

JSV
2023

Wrong Speak is a free-expression platform that allows varying viewpoints. All views expressed in this article are the author's own.