Atheism and The Values of Man.
The denial of God’s existence
destroys the nature of man , the purpose and meaning of life and
also the objective values . Within the context of atheism man is
an accidental bundle of material particles , transitory
conglomerate which is destined to live without sense or
purpose and without any direction in
life. Life is short and man disappears into nothingness. There is no
reason to expect any kind of
life after physical death. The atheists like F. Nietzsche , J.P. Sartre ,
A. Camus and the new atheists ( R. Dawkins and others) om their writings openly
confess the life as absurd . A person appears without any
knowledge why, lives without any
solid ground of values, and disappears
in to darkness of eternity.
Some modern thinkers like Berdyaev , Paul Tillich try to
make people live with courage in
the chaotic situation of modern man.
It is important to realize that for many persons atheism is something not
properly understood . They do not see
the deep destructive influence
of atheistic attitudes . If God does not
exist then any sense and direction of
life is destroyed too . The value of life
, the value of man, and any sense whatsoever
is gone. M. Heidegger in his book, “Being and Time,” defines man as a
being-on-to death . Dostoyevsky saw very clearly the consequences of atheism when he said
“If God does not exist all is
allowed.” This means that nothing is anymore good or evil better
or worse because all values are simply subjective matters of taste and nothing else. The biblical commandments are meaningless because there are no objective values anymore. The
objectivity of values especially moral
values is precisely this that gives meaning and direction to human life.Otherwise life becomes completely molded
by the desires and plans of the
finite limited man. Man becomes the
supreme lawgiver and creator of his
own values. That is the meaning of
Dostoyevsky’s statement and it is
unquestionably true.
It seems that many people who casually sometimes would say “
Oh ! I am an atheist or
I am not religious.” do not really
understand or realize what actually is the meaning of such statements. Therefore one has to think very seriously on the implications and consequences of the
statement by Dostoyevsky: if God does not exist all is allowed. The
second part of this statement is crucial because it implies the demolition and destruction of anything in
human life that one can call good or evil,
better or worse, valuable and useless . It means that any valuation
of reality or man himself , and also his/her actions, are simply devoid of any
shadow of good or evil. Man acts as he/she feels or thinks. When it comes to values it seems that
man is carrying in his/her very
nature the contradiction of inclinations towards destructiveness or towards development of life. If there is no God
then there is no objective criterion for anything whatsoever to evaluate it in
terms of good or evil. The arch enemy of Christianity F. Nietzsche wrote openly
that man’s life should be
lived beyond good and evil . In his parables he
gives the short story of a madman:
In the bright daylight the madman walks into
the market of the town and with
the lit lantern is looking for something
. The people surround him and laugh at him, and cynically
asked with laughter ...“what are
you looking for? Did you loose anything ? the madman very seriously looks at
them and says: "I am looking for God, where is God?" The people laugh at him again and say:" God?
What happened to him did he go for vacation or perhaps he lost his way in the woods!" The madman looks at them with the long look and then says with a heavy voice: “You know what
happened to him, we murdered God, you and me, God is dead!..
Of course this is the story of a madman
because God is Infinite Life itself and
cannot die . However human beings can live as if
God died, as if God does not exist . They
may even sometimes use His name accidentally but de facto their live is completely materialistically oriented, and everything they do or
think does not have anything to do with God and His will
and plan for human beings .
If
everything is allowed then
obviously there are not objective value at all. Everyone is completely free to do whatever he/she thinks in a definite
situation. whatever seems to him/her as desirable for
some reason or other. Words such as
moral responsibility, virtue or
criminality and all other expressions of evaluation of human action as morally good
or evil must rejected.
What someone does depends
on his/her taste and changes in a
moment into something else and still
into something else. because all is
neutral and on the same level . There is no transcend sanction of any kind.
Since God
does not exist, therefore no eternity,
no ultimate meaning of life , no ultimate purpose, no value and
consequently no direction of any kind whatsoever .
Within the concept of atheism the very
value of human beings is an
illusion . Because man is just one of
the many forms of living matter, and his life is not more valuable or
important then the life of a mosquito or
a rat. Man appears accidentally , lives not knowing why , or for what and after
a very short life disappears into nothingness . The value of man is only his/her possibility to be exploited for some dictatorial principles of such
people like Caesar ,the Pharo and in
modern times Hitler, Stalin and such “great leaders.” If the individual does not agree with the
regime of the dictator he/she is a nuisance and is eliminated sometimes on a mass scale. When the individual gets old or sick, he/she becomes a burden to the social
welfare and an obstacle for a new
younger generation.
Conclusion : Man must be eliminated too. Such means of extermination like abortion,
euthanasia , assisted suicide are simply effective ways to
keep the society young and
active.
The law is made by those who are in power . It is flexible and dependent on the social structure which is always built on exploitation of the poor for the interest of the reach.
Without God and His will revealed to humans the basis of the value and meaning of human existence is simply meaningless and absurd as many existential thinkers confess.
Those are some consequences of atheism.
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