Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Atheism as an Existential Attitude . Visit: www.dpl21.com

        There are many sources of atheism and it is  very useful to carefully consider at least the most important of those sources. Primarily it is an absolute rejection of any transcendent reality above  or beyond what  usually is called nature. Many persons claim that  the ability of man  to know is limited to the  perceptible experimental  reality which is the  object of what is called science in our times. This  claim we will discuss in a separate essay.
        This claim is partly the heritage of  the philosophy of David Hume and Immanuel Kant as well as some  philosophers  of the XVIII and XIX centuries. As mentioned already, this attitude 
shall be discussed later on.
        Atheism is to a lesser degree  connected with  the theory of knowledge but essentially it is  a rejection of religion. Religion is understood by Atheists as  a superstitious belief  in some kind of  Divinity, a personal God who supposedly contacted mankind in some sort of revelation and  is the Creator and Savior of  humanity from the  limitations, sufferings and eternal death. Religion therefore in the  atheistic interpretation is a  self -deluding wishful radical force and pernicious  evil. Religion imposes unnecessary  moral burden and stultifies   humanity. It keeps people under the spell of  delusion   diverting  human life interests and efforts towards something  not existent. Atheists consider their mission to liberate  humans from this  phantom  in the sky. Religion  according to them  is a curse and  the    most important curse of   the human condition. Religion  (especially the three Monotheistic religions) promises people some sort of eternal   existence  and imposes the heavy burden of  moral responsibility with the threat of even eternal damnation into some sort of  unending torments  imposed by a  cruel   God. There are also personal and strictly individual  reasons for rejection of religion and therefore atheistic attitude. Many people who initially  are introduced to religion and accept  some of religious beliefs quite often later on in life feel  frustrated . disappointed and cheated especially by organized religion. This attitude is the result of  false concepts  about  God , human beings and  the promises of most religions. The crucial  point here is  a misconception of God, who is understood in a  crude anthropomorphic way who sometimes only  can be manipulated  by so called prayer. But prayer is conceived as  satisfaction of human  desires and expectations  very often having  absolutely no  relationship to the will of God. People pray for the most  mundane  values: for  money , pleasure , long life , health , popularity even for God's help in destruction of their enemies  leading to  global wars like for example the Second World War in which  the extreme cruelty and complete  neglect of any moral  values  was  practiced in the name of so called  chosen race of the mythology of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and so many other  tyrants and  political "saviors."  Other sources of atheism can perhaps be called unconscious atheism . Many people never really think seriously  about their religious belief. God simply is not within the area of interest . Why? They do not feel the necessity to examine  their beliefs. They are  too "busy" with every day  things to do  in their lives. They have no time for thinking. Not only that, but they do not want to think about  the  tenets  of religion because  they are  subconsciously   afraid that after all it may be true  therefore they have no time  about a deeper reflection on their human situation and the meaning of their existence. They simply follow the  customs of the society in which they happen to be born and spend their lives. Religion simply is  a custom a sort of  regular part of the passage of time but it is a dead custom deprived of any deeper meaning whatsoever or influence on their day to day existing. Those are the  proverbial  believers who give lip service to their God and that where their  religion stops. They are  practical atheists  although they would probably feel very offended if named this way.
        To summarize  the sources of atheism  can be  as follows :
(1)   " Scientific disbelief,"
(2)   Ignorance of what religion really is,
(3)       Idolatry  of  scientific method  as the only  way of knowledge ,
(4)    Personal  rejection of religion when some  difficult tragic event disturbs the  "normality," of their everydayness,
(5)  False anthropomorphic idea of God.
(6)  Blindness to moral values and
(7)  Personal rebellion against God and His  providence .


         The most important  obstacle to belief in God seems to be  the  false role of science  in Modern times.  That is why in the next part of our  essay we shall examine the nature of human knowledge.